Gecko by Ken Douglas Page B

thieves away, because he’s not there all that much.”
    “ Can’t be too careful these days,” Washington said.
    “ Would you like me to get him on the phone?”
    He told her it wasn’t that important. He would see the doctor when he returned and she lit her face up with a smile. He thanked her and made his way back to the car.
    It was time to put the Monday-Kohler business out of his mind. He hadn’t seen Glenna in two weeks and he was looking forward to lunch. Especially since they were eating at Armando’s, his favorite Italian restaurant. He smiled at the thought of the rich food. He was hungry.
    Thirty minutes later he was sitting in a back booth bursting with anticipation. He wanted to let it all flood out, but Glenna had started in as soon as they were seated.
    “ What happened to your head?”
    “ Bad guy hit me. He got away.”
    “ But you’ll catch him, won’t you?” she said, pride evident in her voice.
    “ I’ll catch him, because that’s what I do,” he said, bragging a little.
    “ I’m changing my major to police science,” she said. “There’s no future in psychology, unless I go on to a masters or a doctorate.” Her words were like a slap.
    “ Honey, I want you to do whatever you want. I’ll always stand behind you, you know that. But, police science? There’s no future there, except the police force.”
    “ Exactly. That’s what I want. I want to be a cop, a good cop. Like you.”
    Emotionally he was torn. Glenna wanting to follow in his footsteps caused a sudden welling up of pride, but the danger of police work brought up fear as well. If anything ever happened to his daughter again, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
    “ Darling, are you sure it’s what you want? You know cops don’t make any money. Not compared to the white collar guys. Heck, even the crooks make more than we do.”
    “ Dad, you’re not going to try and talk me out of this, are you?”
    “ When have I ever been able to talk you out of anything?” He saw the determined set of her jaw. It was true, when her mind was made up, it was locked and there was no key.
    “ Well, I’m glad, because I really want your support.”
    “ You have it. You’ll always have it.” Then he went on to tell her about the events of the last two days. How he was only still a policeman by a mere thread, but that he didn’t care, because he was finally going to use his law degree. He told her about the hit and run death of David Askew, the shots in the alley, the murder of the two attorneys and the policeman in the jail, the attack on himself and Walker in Huntington Beach, the wounding of Walker, how he banged up his head and skinned his hand and Walker’s offer of a job.
    “ I’m sorry about Walker, but glad that you’re going to be doing something you want to be doing,” she said when he’d finished, “but that means if I want to follow in your footsteps, I’ll have to go to law school,” she said.
    “ You should ask yourself a serious question. Do you want to be a cop because you want to be a cop, or because I’m a cop. Because if it’s the latter, I really think you ought to reconsider. Don’t get me wrong, for years it was good to me and I suppose if I could just knuckle under and do things by the book, it would keep on being good to me, but I can’t. I have to do things my way.”
    “ I thought I knew what I wanted. I’m not so sure now. I just know I hate psych.”
    “ Then find something you like, or better yet, take a break, drop your classes and go to Europe for the rest of the summer. I’ll pay for it.”
    “ Dad, you’re the greatest, but I don’t want a break. I want a direction and I like to finish what I start. I may hate psych and it may only be summer school, but I’ll finish the classes. Besides, a little training in psychology might be good for a policewoman.” She laughed.
    He laughed with her and wondered if he would be laughing as easily with Jane tonight. With the