you that I’ll do my best to figure it out and protect all of you if I can. My own investigator’s on him. Helen we have our ducks in a row, so please don’t worry.”
Forgetting to talk to Wyatt about the documents I brought with me wasn’t the problem it could have been because I tripped over the box when I went to leave the office.
Wyatt thumbed through the box for only a second before a smile spread across his face.
“Miles you never cease to amaze me; you were one clever man.” Wyatt whispered.
“These documents are the close to a case that’s been a ‘bone in the brew’ from before Miles’ death. Where did you find them?”
“In the old desk in his office,” I answered.
“If you come across anything else like these please let me know. These are valuable and represent control of hundreds of thousands of jobs and their possible elimination. The case has been held in limbo but the introduction of this information will solidify our legal and financial claims and save those companies in order to fix them – that was Miles’ intention and I’d like, with your permission, to continue with his vision.”
“Of course, Wyatt, you have my total blessing to do what you know to be right. Please keep me in the loop; we’re a team; I count on you.”
We parted with hugs and ‘see you on Fridays’.
Charlie was whistling when I found him in the closet of the office with a box on the chair next to him. He was removing some coats from the back of the closet, searching the pockets, folding them with care, and placing them in a packing box. Pretty sure that I’d gone through that entire closet, the question was in my thoughts as I came to Charlie for my hello lovin’.
‘You did.’ Charlie thought. ‘I found a pocket door that led to these.’ He thought as he showed me the brown wool coat he was folding.
As it turned out that little ‘pocket door’ led to a lot more than those over coats; though those over coats yielded nearly 3 thousand dollars in cash and multiple leather wallets, each with identification for Miles.
In a few of the pockets Charlie found gold and diamond cuff links and in one he found a personalized hankie with the anagram ‘C’. The hankie was a delicate pale pink, very light and still carried the scent of peppermint.
‘Does everything remind me of you,’ Charlie questioned as he handed it to me to examine.
Catching the look in Charlie’s eyes changed my focus entirely. Right then was our only chance at being alone for awhile so our only real priorities took over and he reached for me. Without a word the decision was made to spend every second we could enjoying the feel of each other both in bed and in the shower after. Even watching each other dress was a treat but also an erotic draw that we were sad to have to deny due to our commitment to lunch with our sisters. There was comfort for us in the knowledge that our honeymoon was in the very near future and then nothing would interfere with our need to bond profoundly.
Our intimate little lunch turned into an extravaganza arranged by Millie that had us all: Denice, Sam, Amanda, Rick, Michael, Lu, Charlie, and I in a large stretch limo, drinking champagne and heading ‘to the lights’ as Denice put it. The weather had again turned nasty causing the day to be dark, not unusual. At that moment we all would have preferred to be in sunny California. Millie’d recommended a place called ‘The Leather Exchange’ which was on the second floor of a quaint looking English pub. The food was excellent and for that reason alone we were glad we went.
Denice looked at me and made a toast.
“To success in all that matters, cheers, thanks a lot, eh?”
We raised our glasses, joined her, and showed respect by drinking to her gracious toast. When Denice spoke everyone was given permission to look at her; so we did. She lit up the room; wearing yellow and white in a design that I’d swear was Amanda’s. It suited her youthful flare and all-female attitude. Her smile was like a shot of endorphins or a lovely hit of chocolate and we all got the perfect dose of it at lunch that day.
Denice and I made eye contact on a number of occasions; she smiled a private smile for me only. I am proud that she’s my sister and a bit sad that our relationship has had to change as more people came into our lives. The bottom line would always be true that we’d be there for each other when ‘push came to shove’.
Amanda was quiet, as she had been for the entire trip; quiet but not sullen, maybe introspective. She stayed closer to Rick and touched him with greater frequency; I took it to mean that they were building a tighter bond. Rick smiled and talked quietly but mostly to Sam.
Sam and Rick broke away from each other now and then to smile at their women and say appeasing words to them. For the very first time it dawned on me how difficult they would find it to be away from each other for the week and a half planned.
Michael and Lu were their comedic selves and bantered back and forth a sexy innuendo humor that kept us all laughing. Michael would say something risqué and Lu would say, “I will spank you, Michael,” in a voice and accent beyond cute.
Seated next to me in the large round booth and closest to the exit was Charlie; he sat close to me with his arm around the back of the booth enabling me to sit even closer. He listened quietly, kissed the top of my head a couple of times, put his head down and waited for the food.
Another reminder from Denice was regarding the next meeting of the ‘Three Women’ principals in four weeks - taking place after schedules began to mean something again. We all hugged our good byes and headed in our own directions each having personal business to handle.
Charlie and I met at Michael and Lu’s, for our final ‘red travel’ before we left for home on the following day, Friday, after the haulers came for Miles’ belongings.
Our red travel was used to see what Cary Colton would be up to the next day and listened to his conversations that were pertinent to either me or any one of us. His main purpose in life seemed to be gaining revenge on me for Gene Handy.
We aligned ourselves on the big bed with Lu and Charlie in the middle and Michael and I connecting from the outside. Even though we expected them, we were still surprised at their appearance when the particles showed and even more so when Ricky sent her four red sparks. Surprised yes, but no one hesitated to jump.
The portal was a light red haze but comfortable with the four of us there. We were prepared with the date, the person, and the situation so as not to waste time or be misconstrued.
In the time it took to think it we were presented with the ledge. We barely completed the request and our options lay before us with the person and then further with the conversations. I mentally programmed each conversation to follow the next as Charlie had suggested earlier so that we wouldn’t have to keep moving in and out of the portal.
It worked. Cary Colton’s first conversation was with the Reference Librarian at the Civic Center in Marin County.
“Can you point me in the direction of any written information about the relationship between Helen and a Mr. Miles K. Henley?”
Cary Colton spoke to her using a seemingly practiced charm as though he thought she held the most important job in the world and found her to be fascinating and sexy.’
The Librarian wrote down what he needed and he didn’t speak again and wasn’t
