What's In A Name
By T.R. Dowden
This is a fun little fiction, written exclusively for my friend Elegant Soul as a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas!
Set sometime between Seasons Two and Three...enjoy!
It was after closing time at the Gull. Nathan, Audrey, Duke and Dwight were involved in their usual (when there wasn't a Trouble flaring up somewhere) Friday night game of poker.
"I fold," Dwight stated, setting down his rather useless hand, and Audrey cackled with glee.
"Well, I'm goin' for broke here," she stated, tossing in a blue chip.
"Keep playing like that, you will be," Nathan noted.
"Hey, it's the lady's money to lose," Duke replied, tossing in a blue chip of his own. "I'm in."
"Why not?" Nathan sighed, and tossed in a chip of his own.
"Easy there, Rockefeller," Duke teased.
"Shut up and show your hand," was Nathan's growled reply. "I got two pair."
"Not good enough," Audrey grinned wickedly. "Three ladies!"
"So that's where those queens were hiding," Duke remarked, looking at her cards. "Guess it's a good thing I found the other one then," he finished, laying down his royal flush.
"Augh! I knew I had you that time, Duke Crocker!" Audrey fumed.
"Nobody gets me, Audrey Parker," Duke bragged as he scraped his chips across the table.
"That's not what I've heard," Dwight smirked and Duke shot him a dirty look.
"My turn to deal for a while," Audrey said, reaching for the cards and shuffling them.
"Good, maybe I'll get something besides garbage this time," Dwight grumbled.
"Are you implying I cheat, Sasquatch?" Duke asked, looking every bit the picture of innocence. "I'm hurt."
He stood up, stretching his long frame. "Anybody in need of a refresher?" he asked, holding up his empty beer bottle.
"Yeah," the three at the table chorused, and Duke ambled off behind the bar to get four beers.
Dwight leaned in towards Nathan, glancing at Duke's back as he leaned over the bar, bottles clinking together as he rummaged through the beer coolers.
"Everything all set for tomorrow night? He still doesn't know?"
"He hasn't let on if he does, but who knows with Duke," Nathan answered as Duke popped the last cap off the beers and began to return, and Dwight straightened up.
"What are you guys gossiping about?" Duke asked.
"Um—names," Dwight blurted out. "We were talking about names and their meanings. Like for instance, Dwight means 'follower of Zeus'. A-and Nathan, or Nathaniel means—"
"God gives," Duke finished for him. "And Audrey means 'of noble strength."
And Duke means 'leader of men," Audrey grinned.
"If you say so," Nathan muttered, perusing the hand he'd been dealt. "Always thought it was kind of odd that someone would name their kid Duke," he ribbed. "Why'd your dad name you that anyway?"
Duke glanced at his cards, and smirked slightly, and then said something unexpected.
"Who said he named me Duke?"
"Uhm—everyone who knows you," Nathan said.
"Well, that may be," Duke replied, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "But that doesn't necessarily make it so, now does it?"
"Wait, are you saying your name isn't Duke Crocker?" Dwight asked, seeing Nathan's startled expression at Duke's revelation.
"Oh, my last name's Crocker all right," Duke answered breezily, discarding an unwanted card and drawing from the deck. "But Duke isn't my first name. That's something my dad nicknamed me and it just stuck."
"Duke, I've seen your rap sheet enough times. Your name is Duke Crocker, plain and simple," Nathan argued. "I've known you since we were five years old. You've always been called Duke. Even old Mrs. McGinty called you Duke, and she always called everybody by their name, she hated nicknames."
"It is Duke Crocker now," Duke explained. "I had it legally changed to that over 20 years ago. But I wasn't named Duke at birth."
"Okay, so what's your real name?" Dwight asked, interested. "Is something awful, like Percival?"
"I'd change my name if it was Percival," Nathan put in. "Or Wilberforce."
"Wilberforce Wuornos—yeah, that's a name asking to be pantsed at recess," Dwight chuckled.
"No, it's not Percival," Duke laughed. "Or Wilberforce," he added, and took another mouthful of beer.
"So how'd you get the nickname Duke, from your folks?" Dwight pressed. "Your dad was a big John Wayne fan or something?"
"No. But I'll give you this much of a hint," Duke said. "Duke is actually an amalgam of my initials."
"So your real first name starts with D," Audrey said, the poker game forgotten. "What is it? David?"
"No," Duke said.
"Is it Dwight, like mine?" Dwight questioned. "Douglas. Donald. Darren. Dale," he guessed.
"No, no, no, and no," Duke said, slightly annoyed. "Doesn't matter what my name was—just what it is now. Isn't that right, Audrey?" he asked, glancing at her.
Audrey bristled at his response. He knew how hard she'd been searching for answers to her own past to make such a flippant remark offhandedly.
"Low blow, Duke," she sniped, and he looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry—that was a low blow," he said sincerely. "Look, are we going to sit around gabbing about what my name used to be, or are we gonna play some poker?" Duke asked, more than ready to change the subject.
But Audrey wasn't willing to let it go just yet.
"I'll find it out, Duke," she promised. "Did anybody know your real name?"
"Well, a few people around Haven did," Duke replied. "My dad did, of course. Eleanor Carr knew it."
"They're both dead—can't ask them."
"The Chief knew it," Duke needled at Nathan, who glared.
"Also dead," Audrey observed. "Isn't there anybody else?"
"And Lucy Ripley knew it," Duke finished.
"I knew your name when I was Lucy?" Audrey goggled, and Duke nodded. "So if I knew it once, I can learn it again."
"I told Lucy it," Duke told her. "But I'm not telling you. I don't think you can find it out anyway."
"I can and I will," Audrey stated firmly, and Nathan set his cards down, looking at her. Apparently, Audrey wasn't going to let this go without a fight.
Duke exhaled, and laid his hand of cards down on the table, and leaned forward.
"Care to make a wager on it?" he asked.
"What are the terms?" Nathan pounced.
"This is between me and Audrey," Duke pointed out.
Nathan was about to give a sharp retort when Audrey stepped in.
"No, I'll set the terms," she told the table. "I bet you that I can find out your real name by—"she craned her neck at the wall clock—by six o' clock tomorrow night. If you win the wager, I pay all your parking tickets. If I win the wager, I get six months, rent free."
"Rent free?" Duke said, looking as though Audrey had demanded he surrender the Rouge to her as payment.
"This pot's about as much as that," Audrey gestured at the pile in front of her. "So what's it gonna be, Dagwood, or whatever your real name is? Do we have an agreement?" she concluded, holding her hand out to Duke.
Duke thought it over a moment, and then extended his hand, taking hers in his own.
"The wager is set," he said.
"And witnessed by Dwight and myself, so no trying to weasel out of it if she finds it out," Nathan warned.
The next morning, Audrey was in at work bright and early, and sat down before her computer.
DUKE CROCKER, she typed into the database, and Duke's file and assorted arrests and aliases came up. She perused the list, finding nothing that indicated what Duke's actual name was.
Nathan set down her cup of coffee on her desk.
"Tried that—nothing there," he remarked.
"I see that," Audrey frowned, thinking in that way that Nathan secretly found adorable, the way her forehead crinkled when she was deep in thought. She gasped. "Of course," she snapped her fingers. "Vince and Dave—they know everything about everybody anyway. They'll know what Duke's real name is," she smirked, and got up from her desk.
"Good luck," Nathan called after her. "You're gonna need it," he finished under his breath, and turned to his case files.
Audrey was walking down the sidewalk and noticed Duke's truck parked along the street, legally for once. She didn't see him, however, and she made her way into The Haven Herald.
"Officer Parker, what a pleasant surprise," Dave greeted.
"Guys, I'd like to see your files on anything you have relating to Duke Crocker," Audrey began.
"Oh, we heard about the wager you've got going with Duke," Dave said eagerly. "My money's on you, Audrey."
"Thanks," Audrey shuffled. "You guys wouldn't happen to know Duke's real name, would you?"
"I only ever heard Simon call him Duke, and I've known him since he was a very small boy," Vince spoke. "But I'm afraid there isn't much in the Herald files to go on."
"Told you not to help me, did he?" she asked.
"Actually, Duke said to give you every assistance," Vince told her. "But you're welcome to dig."
Dave got up from his chair, offering it to Audrey, who accepted.
"Now, we just type in Crocker, Duke, and see what happens," Dave said, tapping the keys.
Audrey glanced through the articles on The Grey Gull, through the Rap Sheet, as they called their arrests section; there was that photograph of Lucy and a nine-year-old Duke, and an article showing Duke with a social studies fair project.
She rubbed her eyes, and then spotted an article Dave was working on, a birth announcement for Ronnie and Stacy Davenport.
She looked up births in Haven, and found a brief mention: Simon and Marie Crocker proudly announce the birth of a son on April 24th at 11:32 pm. Name to be disclosed later.
"They never told you Duke's name?" she asked.
"No, it was one of those things where they were going to officially announce it but it never came about," Vince replied. "And there are some old superstitions that involve hiding a child's true name," he continued. "Said to be bad luck, because evil spirits could lure it away from safety if the child's real name was known to them."
"You think that's why they called him Duke, to hide his true name?"
"If they'd really wanted to protect him, they wouldn't have given him the Crocker surname," Dave remarked. "I don't think there's anything to it. They just never announced his name, everybody calls him Duke, he answers to it, so why not be called Duke Crocker?"
"Well, thanks for nothing," Audrey said dejectedly.
"We're rooting for you, Audrey," Vince soothed, and then thought of something. "You might try the Registrar's office. Every birth certificate in Haven is on file there."
"Thanks for the suggestion," Audrey smiled. She'd soon show Duke just how good a cop she was.
Audrey thanked them and left the Herald, hearing her phone ring just as the door closed behind her. She looked at it. Duke.
"Hello?"
"Struck out, huh?" Duke asked.
"Are you following me around, Duke?" Audrey asked.
"Don't be so paranoid," he scolded. "I was at the bank doing the Gull's deposit, and I saw you pass by. Vince and Dave any help?"
"Not much," she sighed. "Now I'm on my way to the Registrar's office, where your birth certificate is on file."
"Uh, no, it isn't," Duke replied. "I wasn't born in Haven, I was born in Derry. Actually, I was born in my dad's old car halfway between Derry and Haven. Just couldn't wait to get here, I guess," he chuckled.
"But Haven's the county seat," Audrey answered back. "All birth certificates are on file there for the whole county."
"That they are," Duke agreed.
"Happy Birthday, by the way," Audrey said, noting that his truck was now gone.
"Thank you."
"Enjoying it so far?"
"Yes, I am," Duke said cheerfully. "The staff brought me breakfast at the Rouge. Tracy said to take the day off, she'd handle everything at the Gull, so I'm gonna take her up on it. Care to join me on my day of playing hooky from adult life?"
"I can't, I have to work," Audrey replied, thinking the real reason Tracy wanted Duke out of the Gull was to set up for his surprise party tonight. "You gonna tell me your name before I find it out?"
"What, and spoil your fun?" Duke protested. "Not a chance. Anyway, you only have six more hours to find out. Tick-tock, Audrey," he finished, and hung up.
Audrey strained her mind, trying to remember any little fragment from her time as Lucy, but nothing was there. She sighed, and made her way into the Registrar's office.
"Hi, Audrey," Betsy Halleck greeted from behind her little window. "What can we do you for today?"
"I was hoping to see a birth certificate on Duke Crocker," Audrey said.
Betsy frowned. "I wish I could show you that—but I can't."
"Oh? Do I need to get a court order?" Audrey asked. She hadn't thought of that; and she felt fairly certain a judge wasn't going to give her one based on a wager.
"No, it isn't that," Betsy told her. "I heard about your wager with Duke from Dave Teagues, and—well,I thought I would just take a small peek myself," she went on, going to a filing cabinet and extracting a file. "There are listings for Crockers going back to the 1800's, but there's not one for Duke. It's vanished. No one's supposed to take files out of here; they're never supposed to leave this office."
I'm pretty sure I know how it vanished-no wonder he wasn't worried about me coming here, Audrey thought, but said nothing, glancing through the documentation, noting the listed Crockers—Silas, James, Ezekiel, Roland (whom she presumed was actually Roy Crocker, judging by the 1931 date on the certificate, Simon Crocker—but no listing for any Crocker born in the 1970's, male or female.
"Okay," Audrey exhaled, closing the file. "Thank you anyway, Betsy."
"Anytime, Audrey," she smiled, and tucked the book away as Audrey headed out the door and back to Haven PD.
Nathan glanced up from his lunch to see Audrey staring out the window, lost in thought.
"Earth to Audrey," he called, and she startled.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Nathan," she mumbled.
"Still no luck, huh?" he asked sympathetically. He snapped his fingers. "Did you try the Registrar's office?" he brightened.
"I did—and Duke's birth certificate seems to have somehow—disappeared—from their records," Audrey remarked.
"Wow, I wonder how that happened," Nathan deadpanned. He thought a moment. "Y'know—Duke's family attended Good Shepherd when he was a kid, not that it stuck on Duke, but we all know the Rev and Simon were awful chummy," he went on. "Maybe Duke was baptized there—his name would be in the baptismal records if he was. The Rev was a stickler for church paperwork."
"Actually, I think Duke did mention he was baptized there once," Audrey replied. "You think the new reverend would let me take a look?"
"I think you'd be pushing your luck there," Nathan said, smiling a little. "Outside of that, I can think of only one other place you might find out."
"Even if I sent off to the state for a copy of his birth certificate, it'd take a week to get it, and I only have three more hours," Audrey groused, dejected.
"Or you could look in the Crocker journal," Nathan told her. "There's a Crocker family tree in it—goes back hundreds of years."
"How do you know that?"
"He told me it was there—he told me that he'd put Jean's name in there under his own," Nathan replied.
"Can you keep Duke busy for an hour or so?" Audrey said, rising to her feet.
"Audrey, that's breaking and entering," Nathan pointed out.
"Nathan, Duke's told us we got an open invite to board the Rouge anytime we like," Audrey told him. "I'm not stealing anything—just researching. Just keep him busy—tell him—tell him you want to make sure that the bet's evenly matched or something."
"I think his tickets cost more than six months' rent, you think he'd have told you his real name outright with a wager like that on the line," Nathan remarked. "But with Duke, it's the principle of the thing. For a crook, he actually does have a sense of fair play."
"Better watch out Nathan, that was almost a compliment," Audrey teased and Nathan flushed.
"It's against my better judgment, but I'll distract Duke for you," Nathan promised, taking out his phone.
"Thanks, Nate," she smiled, and pecked his cheek, leaving him to hold his hand to it, still in amazement that he could feel her touch.
Audrey waited until she saw Duke's truck pull up outside Haven PD, and Duke go inside before she headed down to the marina, making her way down to Duke's slip at the dock.
She went aboard The Cape Rouge, and glanced around. For a single man, Duke kept house amazingly well—the bed made, no dirty dishes in the sink, no clutter or dust, and she imagined that he'd learned how to keep house simply out of self-preservation.
Audrey walked around quietly, glancing around, looking for the journal, but didn't see it. Not that he likely kept it out in plain view—Duke Crocker was a careful man, and she thought on where it might be hidden.
Over in a cubby, she spotted a leather-bound book, and she began to reach for it—and paused. Next to it was an old coffee cup, its blue Delft floral pattern rather incongruous sitting next to a small statue of Kwan Yin. There was a chip in the cup, and she picked it up, running her fingers over it, and she—remembered.
She was in her kitchen, a small boy sitting at her table. He looked as though he were doing his best not to try, his dark eyes brimming with tears that wouldn't fall.
She glanced up and caught a glimpse of herself in the living room mirror, surprised to see she had long dark hair as she set a cup of cocoa in front of the little boy.
There was movement in the shadows behind the boy, and a much younger Garland Wuornos emerged.
"The state people will be around for him in the morning," he told her in a low voice. "It's good of you to put him up for tonight, Lucy."
"He needs someone to look after him," she heard herself saying.
"Well, maybe he'll get that now," Garland answered, pulling his coat on. He put a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, and patted it twice before he left.
"You hungry?" she asked. The boy shook his head.
"Well, I'm hungry," Lucy said. "So I hope you don't mind if I eat."
The boy said nothing, just stared into his cocoa cup.
Lucy cooked a cheeseburger casserole, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see a distinctly interested kid watching her at the stove. Finally, it was ready, and she ladled a larger spoonful of the casserole onto a plate; but instead of sitting it in her place, she placed it in front of the boy, who fell on it ravenously.
"Thought you weren't hungry," she smiled, watching the casserole disappearing rapidly.
"Maybe I was a little," the boy whispered, swallowing the last mouthful and gazing hungrily toward the pot.
Lucy filled the plate again, and set it down in front of him. This time, he ate a little slower, and she found herself wondering when the last time was he'd gotten a solid meal. He was painfully thin, his clothing ill-fitting and dirty, and she determined his next stop was the bathtub while she tried to find him some fresh clothes.
"So—Duke, is it?" she asked, getting a nod from the boy.
"Yesh mam," Duke said through a mouthful of food.
"That's an unusual name," she commented. "What made your dad—never mind," she finished, seeing the pained look in his eyes. "I'm sorry about your dad, Duke," she continued, her tone tender. "I know it must hurt terribly right now."
Duke shrugged nonchalantly, but she could see the tears still brimmed, and this time one fell down his cheek and he scrubbed it away viciously.
"It's all right to feel sad, Duke," she told him.
"I don't feel sad! I'm glad he's dead!" Duke yelled suddenly, and jumped up, knocking the coffee cup to the floor, chipping it.
Lucy bent down and picked the cup up from the floor. Duke saw the chip in the cup, and he looked panicked.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break your cup," he choked, seeing the anguish in Lucy's face over the chip in the antique cup.
"Duke, it's okay," she soothed, but Duke's anger and grief were overcoming him, and he began to cry, huge shuddering gasps as Lucy closed him in her arms and just held him close for what felt like forever.
At length, he calmed himself, Lucy's hand stroking dark curls. Her heart went out to him—his mother was off God-knew-where and his father had just been drowned at sea.
He was a lot like her, she reflected. He had no family to call his own, and she wondered that if she and James could figure out how she could stay here this time, if she could be allowed to adopt him—and give each other the family they both wanted so badly.
"Lucy," Duke said, interrupting her thoughts.
"Hm?" she asked.
"Duke's not really my name," he confessed.
"Really? What is it?" she smiled.
The Rouge creaked, and Audrey found herself back in Duke's living room, and she smiled, placing the cup back into its spot on the shelf, and exited the Rouge, humming to herself. She remembered Duke's true name now.
Around five p.m., Duke's phone rang.
"Tracy," Duke said, looking at it. "Hello there," he greeted.
Nathan watched as Duke's expression went from surprise to agitation as he listened to his manager, and he suppressed a small smile as he knew it was a ploy on Tracy's part, phoning Duke to tell him that all the fuses had gone out at the Gull so that he'd have to come down there.
"Well, did you call Dwight Hendrickson?" Duke asked. "What about the Gurney Brothers?"
"I did call Dwight, but he's tied up on a job across town, and the Gurneys are working on a construction job in Derry," Tracy told him. "Duke, I got a restaurant full of people sitting in the dark and now they all wanna eat for free!"
"I'm on my way down," Duke exhaled, and hung up.
"Need some help?" Nathan asked.
"If you want—you can come help prevent a riot when I tell 'em nobody's eating for free in my restaurant," Duke answered wryly.
Nathan agreed, and he and Duke headed out the door.
Audrey came downstairs, clad in her new dress, her hair curled and set in a softer style.
She made her way over to the bar, where Vince and Dave were waiting.
"So? Didja find out his name?" Dave asked without preamble.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," Audrey replied.
"You did, clever girl," Vince said slyly. "So—what is it?"
"I guess you'll find out when Dwight gets here with the cake from Rosemary's, won't you?" Audrey smiled, accepting her martini from Tracy, who glanced at her phone.
"That's Dwight—he says Duke and Nathan just drove past, they're gonna be here any minute!" she called out, dimming the lights, just as Nathan's Bronco came around the corner.
The crowd quieted down, and the Bronco came to a stop in the parking lot, and Duke and Nathan climbed out.
"Tracy, did you check—"Duke called out as the lights came on and the gathered crowd yelled "SURPRISE!"
"Gotcha," Nathan told him.
Duke gave him a cryptic look, trying hard not to smile.
"I figured you two were up to something today," he remarked.
Audrey came up to him.
"Well, Audrey, don't you look nice," Duke complimented her, gratefully accepting the tumbler of whiskey she passed him. "And what all have you found out today?"
"I guess you'll find out when Dwight gets here with your cake," Audrey grinned. "I told Rosemary to take extra special care to fit your whole name on it."
Duke's smile slipped, but said nothing, just gazed at Audrey over his whiskey glass as he drained half of it in one gulp before he meandered over to the accumulated pile of presents on the table, talking and grinning with well-wishers.
"Duke's right, you look great, Audrey," Nathan said. "Did you find out Duke's true name?"
Audrey was just about to answer when Dwight came through the door of the Gull, a long flat rectangular box in his arms.
"All right, cake's here," he announced.
Nathan steered Duke toward the cake table, where Dwight was cutting the tape securing the lid.
"C'mon, Birthday Boy, let's see the cake," he grinned.
Duke gave him an annoyed look, and then steeling his resolve, lifted the lid on the box, revealing a beach scene in frosting on it, and written in the brown sugar sand was a singular phrase:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUKE CROCKER
A groan went up among the crowd, and Duke grinned widely as he watched Dave surreptitiously slipped Vince a 10-dollar bill.
"All right-since it's my place, and my birthday, the first round's on me!" Duke called out to the delight of the crowd, who cheered and launched into a chorus of Happy Birthday.
Duke's birthday party lasted well into the evening, until at last, it was just the four of them gathered around the fire pit.
"Audrey, I was so sure if anybody could find out what Duke's real name was, it'd have been you," Dwight told her.
"I said you couldn't find it out," Duke grinned, more than a little tipsy. "So I win the wager."
Audrey got up, and then went over to Duke, sat down next to him and leaned into his ear. She whispered something, and Duke's smile faded. He drew his head back and gazed at her steadily.
"I'm right, aren't I?" she grinned at him.
"Yes," Duke said. He gave her a sidelong look. "You said you were going to put it on my birthday cake—but it just said 'Happy Birthday Duke'. Couldn't get to Rosemary in time to change it?"
"No—I decided that it was your secret to keep. If you wanted everyone to know, you'd tell us yourself," Audrey told him affectionately.
"Well, I'm dying to know," Dwight burst out.
"The wager was that I would find out what his true name was—not that I would blab it all over town," Audrey informed him. "I did find it out—but I did so dishonestly—and I forfeit. So Duke wins the wager."
Duke smiled gently. "I refuse your forfeit," he told her.
"But Duke, I sneaked on board the Rouge to pilfer through—"Audrey protested, but Duke waved her off.
"No worse than I might've done," he grinned. "However, since you have been gracious enough to keep my mouthful of a name a secret, how about a compromise—three months' rent-free, and you pay half my tickets?"
"Sounds like a fair trade," Nathan remarked. "And in the meantime, we all have to wonder what Duke's real name is."
"Nathan, I'm afraid you're just going to have to take a page from Vince and Dave's book," Duke sighed, picking up his drink. "Some things in Haven are better left secret."