Lewis & Ondarko - Best Friends 03 - Now and Zen by Pat Ondarko, Deb Lewis Page B

to the bottom of things. I need your help.”
    Hearing his words, Deb was momentarily speechless.
    “You need our help? Mine and Pat’s? Pat! Come out here!” Deb yelled into the crowded restaurant. “Gary needs our help!”
    Pat walked briskly out into the sunlight with a confused expression on her face.
    “Hi, Gary,” Pat said. “What’s happening?”
    “He said he needs our help,” Deb repeated.
    Gary nodded his head.
    “That’s a strange turn, coming from you. What on earth do you want from us?” Pat asked.
    “This place is so chaotic. I need you to ask around and talk to people who were on the ferry coming over yesterday when the incident happened.”
    “Incident? You call that an incident when someone is potentially dead?” Pat replied.
    “Shh, Pat. He’s only doing his job,” Deb said. “Every investigation starts with an incident and an incident report, right Gary?”
    Gary’s face reddened as he chose to ignore the comment.
    I will not respond to these crazies in kind, I am better than that,
he thought.
    “There’s no way we have the resources to talk to every one of these women,” he said. “I need you to winnow out the ones who may have any information at all. Remember, its first-hand information I want, not gossip.”
    “We can try,” Pat said. “Just leave it to us.”
    Shaking his head, Gary handed his business card to Deb.
    “Here’s my cell number. Make me a list of names and contact numbers and get back to me as soon as possible.”
    “Aye, aye, captain!” Pat replied in mock salute.
    As Gary strolled away towards his waiting fishing boat, Deb turned to Pat.
    “Can you believe he asked us for help this time?”
    “Can you believe we would agree to help?” Pat answered.
    “There’s just one thing I wanted to tell you.”
    “What?”
    “Remember that woman we met on the ferry when we were coming over before the retreat started?
    Pat paused. “You mean Windcatcher?”
    “No, the one who helped me up when I fell.”
    “What about her?”
    “She’s been sort of haunting me.”
    “Oh, Deb, you have a too rich imagination.”
    “Maybe. Or maybe not.”
    “Well, if it worries you, you can always tell Gary about her.”
    “I probably will.”

Chapter Fourteen
June 21
    Pat walked back to the cabin to change her shirt, as the dog followed her.
    “I’m staying behind to set up the writing workshop,” Deb called. “Remember, we have to lead it today.”
    “Okay, I’ll be right down,” Pat said louder than necessary into the phone a few minutes later as she entered the door.
    Remember what Swami Ji, the Yoga master, said
she told herself as she hung up the phone.
Breathe. Just breathe. In with the calm clear air, out with the… what the hell is happening down at the self defense class? It sounds like all hell has broken loose. It’s a damn good thing I didn’t put out a glass jar to put a dollar in every time I’ve sworn, or I’d be broke before the day is over.
    “Oops I did it again. I’m outta here!” she yelled to no one in particular. “The gods of chaos are laughing today, that’s for sure.”
    Slipping into her new tennis shoes, she ran out the door leaving a confused dog alone in the cabin. The dog popped her head up from the couch where she was catching a snooze.
    She huffed out the fine hairs around her muzzle as if in a laugh. “Humans! Who can figure them out?” she seemed to be saying in dog language as she laid her head back down and settled in for a nice long nap.
    Pat climbed onto the golf cart that Julie had managed to place in the driveway for her, and went bumping down the street. Along the way, she met Bev sitting outdoors under a colorful Thai umbrella at the station she was assigned on Bell Street. Her electric scooter was festooned with ribbons flying in the breeze. Pat waved at Bev who was doing a reading for another woman seated in front of her.
    Waving back gaily, Bev turned her attention to the business at hand. The other