PART FOUR

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

MAC'S OFFICE

JLS

0915

MAC'S POV

As per my current usual Monday morning routine, I came to work, went to the ladies room, held the Monday morning staff meeting and then made one more stop at the ladies room.

I'm headed to my office after my last stop and I'm so happy that I'm almost humming.

I had a wonderful weekend that included rest, time with my family, a baby shower, planned and attended by my friend, Harriet Roberts, and to top off the weekend, today is my second wedding anniversary. It's truly a good day to be me.

After the guests left my baby shower yesterday, Harriet was a guest at the Burnett home for Sunday dinner, where part of the discussion was about how long Harriet was going to be able to stay. She said that her mother was 'helping' Bud with their children, so she couldn't be gone for too long for fear that her mother would drive her husband insane.

However, I'm glad that she doesn't leave until Wednesday afternoon because I'm looking forward to my anniversary dinner tonight with my husband, but I want to spend an evening with her, too. I woke up this morning with my mouth watering for a big juicy steak with a baked potato, and my taste buds have been in overdrive ever since, so I don't want to miss dinner tonight.

I reach PO Coates' desk, and she stands. "Colonel, here are your messages ... and, Ma'am, I'm not sure that it's anything important, but a young man…a boy, really, called you early this morning. I tried to take a message, but he said that he'd try to call back later. Since you're leaving early today because of your anniversary, Ma'am, if he should call after you leave the office today, what should I tell him?"

"Try again to take a message…or find out if someone else in the office can help him with his problem," I say as I take a couple of steps towards my office door, but then I remember Harm telling me about a young man who might need my legal advice. It's been a week, but maybe he needed to think it over before he called. I turn around to face Jennifer again. "On second thought, if he calls again and I'm not here, give him my cellphone number and ask him to call me."

"Yes, Ma'am."

A TABLE IN A DIMLY LIT RESTAURANT

SAN DIEGO, CA

1800

"How did you find this place? It isn't exactly your kind of place," I say as I look over the menu.

"I asked around the office, and the name of this place came up several times as being a great place for either steak or seafood. I thought it fit the bill perfectly. You could have your dead cow, and I could get seafood," Harm says in a teasing tone.

"How did you know that I'd want a steak?" I ask.

"Because I know you," he says, the flame of the candle reflecting in his eyes.

I smile. "Is it that or the fact that you keep me on a reduced red meat diet so you know that, when I get the chance, I'm going to have steak?" I tease back.

"Could be that, too," he answers with a slight smile and a chuckle.

A FEW MINUTES LATER

We're waiting on our dinner to arrive at our table when I remember the phone call that I'd missed earlier and want to ask Harm about.

"Harm, the boy who you said might need my legal advice last week, have you heard from him?"

"No, have you?"

"I don't know. Jennifer said that a young man called this morning, but he wouldn't leave a message. He said that he'd call back, but he hasn't yet. Have you made any progress on the burglary case?"

"I'm not really that involved with the investigation on a daily basis. However, I can tell you that, after the last interview that Michaels and I had with the latest victim, Michaels got the idea that it might be one or both of his parents who are committing the burglaries, which led him to interview previous victims. Of those who could remember when the last time was that they'd seen the item that had been stolen, they'd been at a party either thrown by or attended by his parents, and armed with that information Michaels came to me about getting a warrant for his parents' financial records."

"So maybe he knows that his parents are involved in the thefts," I suggest.

"Maybe, but it's our anniversary. Let's not talk shop," Harm says, reaching across the table to take my hand in his.

"Should we talk about how much your son is looking forward to the steak that I ordered?" I tease.

He smiles the warm, loving smile with which I've become familiar only in the last couple of years, the smile that I see on his face only when he's looking at me or when he's with our children. My heart flutters at the thought that this smile is reserved for only his family.

"Mac, are you okay?" he asks, and I realize that I've been lost in thought.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"About?" he asks.

"About the last two years with you," I say with a smile.

"It has been a crazy ride, hasn't it? I mean, if someone had told me three years ago that I'd be proposing to you in six months and that we'd be married with four children and a fifth one on the way…I never would've believed them," he says with a shake of his head.

"Any regrets?" I ask tentatively.

"No." After a brief pause, he continues, "Sometimes I start to regret not asking you sooner, but then I think about the timing. If we'd gotten together sooner, it would have changed our path, and though we may have had a couple of kids the old-fashioned way by now, we wouldn't have Tyler and the girls, and I've never had second thoughts about them being our children, so, in the end, I can't regret anything. Things happened the way they were supposed to happen."

His softer side never ceases to amaze me.

"I feel the same way," I say as the waiter appears with our dinner.

MASTER BEDROOM

2200

I left the office at 1120 and came to the house to pick up Harriet. We went to lunch, and then we shopped until after two.

When we got back to the house, Harriet and I didn't have much of a chance to talk. Sami was up from her nap when we got in and wanted to stay with us while Sofia went to get Ty and Abigail from school. Keeping Sami entertained was a full-time assignment while Sofia was gone, or, I should say, watching her entertain us. I wish that I had just half of her energy about now.

The time with Sami made Harriet realize how much she missed her children. So, after Sofia got home with Ty and Abigail, we did things with the kids until it was time for me to get ready for my date with Harm and for the children to get ready to go to their grandparents' house for the evening.

I felt badly about leaving Harriet alone at the house when she'd come out here to see me. We did the polite thing and asked her to come with us, but we were glad when she declined.

"Your wedding anniversary dinner isn't a time when you want a friend along, no matter how long it's been since you've seen me," she'd said.

However, we did come straight home after dinner, in part to spend time with Harriet before she leaves on Wednesday and partially because I was tired.

Once at home, I sat on the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table.

The three of us talked for awhile, until the subject became nursing bras and stretch marks, which was Harm's cue to leave the room.

Harm returned thirty minutes ago to let me know that he was headed to bed, but Harriet had moments before said something about what we'd bought during our shopping trip today for 'little Harm the third,' so, before I went to bed, I wanted to clue her in that Harm didn't want the baby to be named after him.

I enter the bedroom.

In the complete quiet of our room, I can hear the sound of Harm's rhythmic breathing – he's asleep.

After changing in the bathroom, I walk slowly to the bed and slip under the covers, which causes Harm to stir.

"I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be sleeping alone on our anniversary," he says in a voice husky from sleep.

"Harriet called the baby 'little Harm the third,' which led me to tell her that you don't like the idea of naming the baby after you."

"Which led to a discussion of baby names?"

"Yes."

"Did you come up with one you like?"

"A couple of possibilities, but we can discuss them in the morning. Since you're awake now, and it is our anniversary ... " I say suggestively.

"Are you feeling up to that?" he asks like I've shocked him by suggesting such a thing as making love.

"I feel up to giving it a try ... unless you don't want me ... " I hate that I sometimes sound like a stereotypical pregnant woman, but let's face it. No matter how attractive you thought you were before, at almost eight months pregnant, you aren't feeling sexy, and therefore question how your mate might see you.

"Not only do I want you, but I want only you," he says reassuringly, moments before his lips touch mine.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007

MAC'S OFFICE

JLS

1530

When Jennifer buzzed my office a minute ago, she'd said that she was pretty sure that it was the same boy on the line who'd called yesterday, but he didn't want to give her his name.

If it is the boy who Harm told me about, he's in some kind of trouble or knows someone who is, so I don't need to sound like a Marine when I talk with him.

"This is Colonel MacKenzie," I say in a gentle tone of voice.

"A friend gave me your name and number. I called because I know that Justin didn't steal the stuff that they're saying he did, but I can't tell anyone because of how I know. I don't want to go to jail."

Harm said that the boy to whom he'd given my name and telephone number was Justin ... Justin something.

"I might be able to help. I could come to your house -"

"No, no…you can't come to my house!"

"Okay, okay, relax. Let's start with something simple. What's your name?"

"I don't want to tell you my name. You'll be able to find me."

"I won't be able to find you if you tell me just your first name."

"John."

"John, how do you know that Justin didn't steal the items?"

"Because…I took the stuff, but I didn't plan to get anyone in trouble. We need the money to get away."

"Why do you need to get away?"

"To get away from my dad."

"Why?"

"Because he hits us."

I feel a sudden tension in my gut. At times like these, I can't stop the painful memories of my childhood from seeping into my mind from where I keep them locked away.

"John, you said us…he hits you and who else?"

"My mother…he has for as long as I can remember, but six months ago, he was beating her, and, when she cried out in pain, I knew that it was bad. I tried to stop him. He turned to me and said that, if I felt like I was man enough to take him, he'd show me that I was wrong, and he hit me a couple of times before my mother got between us and told me to go to my room, that she could handle him."

"John, do you have the things that you took or have you already sold them?"

"I still have all of it. The stuff is in two cardboard boxes, one in my closet and another one under my bed that has the jewelry in it."

"John, I want you to tell me your last name or where you live."

"Why?"

"Because I can help you, but I can't come to get you and your mother if I don't who you are or where you are…tell me something that I can use to find you."

"I'll have to think about it."

Click

Just like that, he's gone.

I waste no time by putting down the receiver. I just hit the button on the cradle to get a dial tone before dialing Harm's office.

Harm's yeoman picks up, and I use my command Marine voice when I say, "This is Colonel MacKenzie with JLS. I need to speak with Captain Rabb."

After a quick "Yes, Ma'am, one moment please," I hear silence until Harm picks up the phone.

"What can I do for you, Colonel MacKenzie?"

"I need your help to solve a mystery."

"What kind of help do you need?"

"I just got a call from a young man who said that a friend gave him my name and number. I want you to tell me the name and address of the boy to whom you gave my name and number so that I can go speak with him."

"He wouldn't give you his name and address when you spoke with him?" he asks.

"No, he wouldn't. He's scared and in trouble. He told me his story, and I believe him. So, if I can find him, I can help him."

"I remember his name. It was Justin…Justin Fulton, but you'll have to give me some time to find the file to get his address."

The boy who I spoke with today said that Justin didn't commit the crimes. So, who's John? Maybe Justin used the name John when he spoke to me. If there is a second boy, then Justin is the friend who gave John my name and number. Since I have no way of knowing if Justin and John are two people or the same person, Justin's name and address is where I need to start.

As I'm thinking about the situation that the boy, whoever he is, is in, it occurs to me that he was probably calling after school. It may not be a good idea to head over there now. By the time I could get there, his father might be home. I'll go there tomorrow to see him just after he gets home from school.

I condense my thoughts to Harm by asking him, "I won't be going there tonight, so why don't you just bring the address home with you?"

"Sure thing, see you at home. Bye."

"Bye."

MASTER BEDROOM

RABB HOME
2200

Harm enters the bedroom, carrying what looks like a file folder.

"I almost forgot. I brought home a copy of the file. It'll have all the information that you need."

"The entire file?"

"Well, what I have of it anyway. You won't be prosecuting the case, and if you defend the boy, you'll be entitled to see the file on disclosure, so, see it now…see it later…it makes no difference to me."

"Thank you," I say as I place the folder on my night table. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. Tonight, I want to get some sleep. I'm tired."

"You worked all day and then went out to dinner with Harriet, followed by more shopping. Of course, you're tired. I should've known that you'd overdo it with her here," he says in a tone that's a cross between scolding and worry.

"Harm, the baby and I are fine. I'm just tired. Harriet leaves tomorrow, so relax and come to bed so your son will settle down and we can all get some sleep."

A few minutes later, he's lying in bed with me, and my eyelids are already closed.

"I love you," I whisper.

"I love you, too," he whispers back before placing a kiss at my temple.