Author's Note: Here's chapter three. I'm going to keep posting in spite of the low readership (thanks Jen23 for your always faithful support)

PART 2 – A FRIEND IN NEED

Tuesday, November 11, 1980, 9:30 AM PST

The following week Tuesday morning, a sunny autumn day in Beverly Hills, where a stately concrete and glass high rise reflected the bright sunshine. Inside, on the twenty sixth floor were the executive offices of H.C. MUTUAL INDEMNITY Co. The executive office suite was a study in understated elegance, with oak paneling and plush easy chairs in the outer waiting area. A sleekly groomed brunette in her mid thirties was seated at a desk just outside a regal looking oak double door, the CEO's office, typing at a rapid pace. The elevator door across from the secretary's desk opened and Phil Adamson, the chief operations officer, stepped out. Phil, who had once been Harrison Cochrane's right hand man...was now in the same role for his successor and son. He was a trim man of about forty-seven years with a rapidly receding hairline dressed in a well cut double breasted silk business suit of a deep blue stepped out. He was carrying several manila folders. He strode over to the brunette.

"Good morning Carole, is Mr. Cochrane in yet?" he asked

"Yes sir Mr. Adamson, he just got in," she replied with a cordial smile. "He's on the phone but he said you can go right in, he's expecting you."

"Thank you," Phil replied. He knocked perfunctorily then opened one of the double doors and walked in the office.

Peter Cochrane was seated in a black leather chair before an immense glass-topped desk that was covered with a multi buttoned phone, an intercom speaker, several manila files in a box marked "OUT", a few in a box marked "IN", and a blotter with two piles of documents on top. He was speaking in the phone and noticing Phil standing there, gestured for him to be seated in one of the two leather chairs in front of the desk. The rest of the office had a large credenza, a round table with leather covered swiveled chairs, and to the right of the desk, a doorway that lead to a fully outfitted executive private suite; complete with bed, dresser, armoire, shower, and bathtub. Lately, Pete spent the weeknights in the suite and the weekends either at the family estate in Beverly Hills or his beach house up in Monterey Bay.

Pete, always good-looking when he was a young man, at the age of thirty-four had retained the same tall, lean muscled body and ruggedly handsome face accentuated by cerulean blue eyes and framed by medium brown unruly curls. Divorced for over a year, he was considered an extremely eligible and desirable catch by the unattached female population of Beverly Hills and beyond. Yet, he preferred to fill his days with business and his nights and weekends by himself. Due to his family's wealth and business notoriety, his divorce from his ex-wife Donna was a very public and nasty one, and with a few exceptions when well meaning friends arranged blind dates, he decided for the most part to distance himself from women for the time being.

As for his professional life, Pete was in the final process of expanding the business beyond auto, life, industrial and shipping insurance; he was laying the foundation for HC Mutual Indemnity to begin diversifying into providing health coverage...major medical, hospitalization, and especially to provide coverage for cancer patients. Having witnessed the suffering of patients and their families while he stood by his father as Harrison eventually succumbed after a five year battle against pancreatic cancer, he heard horror stories from both surviving families and hospital personnel of the rising costs. His innate compassion then became his motivation to lessen the burden through affordable insurance provided through work, starting with offering discounted plans to the industries and businesses they insured.

Pete concluded his phone call and grinned at Phil who was waiting patiently. "I'm sorry Phil, but that was the Fairchild Pharmaceutical Company I was talking to. They want to come in when we start offering major medical coverage to the businesses we underwrite accident, workman's comp and liability next year."

Phil shook his head in disbelief. "Man, you really pulled it off. The board of directors had their doubts we could expand and diversify but you just went ahead and pulled it all together."

Pete leaned back in his chair. "Yeah...having worked in hospitals for several undercover cases I gained insight into the field and while taking care of dad I saw where it was heading. I just went and talked to the right people so here we are."

"Terrific, boss… As usual you're right on top of things," Phil said with a thumbs up. "What exactly are they offering us?"

"Fairchild Drug Store chain as you know, is the largest provider of prescriptions in southern California and they want to discuss offering discount rates filling prescriptions to policyholders. With this agreement we will be the first company to be able to offer our customers comprehensive full prescription coverage along with the rest of their medical coverage."

Phil nodded his approval. "Like I just said boss, you're really on top of things."

Pete grimaced and said, "I told you not to call me that… I'm having a hard time feeling that way even though I've been in this position for the last few years." A shadow passed over him as he added somberly, "Since my father's death."

"He would be very proud of you, Pete."

"Yeah...maybe here at the office. However, in the other areas of my life- " He shrugged. "The jury is still out." He gestured to a chair for Phil to sit. " So what's up?" he inquired, leaning back in his chair.

Phil smiled at Pete, "My wife will never forgive me if I don't bring back a full report about your date Friday with Lisa. So how'd it go?"

Pete's grin faded and he snapped, "Knock it off, Phil, we've got work to do." He indicated the pile of folders Phil brought in with him. "Those are some claim files that need final approval, I take it?"

"Things didn't work out huh?" Phil persisted.

Pete sighed giving up. "Lisa's a lovely girl, Phil but I am just not interested. It's not her fault, it's mine, I'm just at a point where I really don't trust women," he finished glumly.

"Maggie's going to be very disappointed. She was sure that Lisa was the perfect girl to get you back among the living," Phil replied evenly. "So did I, for that matter."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, pal," Pete said reassuringly. "You gave it your best shot. I'm just a lost cause right now."

"Maggie will never accept that. She sees you as the ultimate challenge to her powers of matchmaking and she won't rest until you have found the perfect woman," Phil stated.

"She'll just have to because I have officially taken myself off the market. So with that established we can get back to the business at hand," Pete declared "which IS business." He reached for the pile of folders that Phil placed on the side of the desk.

"Okay, you're the boss. These are claim files for life insurance policies that are worth $50K and up," Phil said, getting right down to business.

"Have they been investigated?" Pete inquired, leafing through the files.

"Yeah, these have come to my desk from the investigator's office."

Suddenly, Pete stopped and gave his full attention to one particular file. He went through it slowly, reading it carefully with a mildly surprised look in his eyes, and as he got to the end, he turned again to the top document and read it over.

Noting his absorbed manner, Phil asked curiously "Is there something wrong, did the investigator overlook something?"

Pete said blankly, "Huh? No, it's just the holder of this claim...I wanted to know if there were any problems," he added in a strange voice.

"Let me see it, Pete," Phil reached for the file. He read the name at the top, "Daniel Christopher Bennett, age thirty-five, died in an accident at his ranch on October 10, 1980. Broken neck suffered from a fall from his barn roof...Police and emergency medical personnel reports confirm that the top rungs of the ladder snapped in two, causing him to lose his balance and fall three stories, cracking his cervical vertebrae. Cause of death complications caused by internal bleeding. No, seems everything looks in order for payment." He continued reading, "Beneficiary, spouse, Julie Barnes Bennett." Phil stopped reading, recognition showing on his face. "I see," he intoned knowingly. Pete had told Phil all about his close relationships with Julie Barnes and Linc Hayes while they all worked undercover for the LAPD.

Pete leaned back in his chair, a solemnly thoughtful look in his eyes, frowning. "She must be going through hell right now, poor kid," he said sympathetically. "And her little girl too."

Phil asked, "Is this the first you're hearing of this? Don't you keep in touch with Julie and Linc?"

Pete looked guarded, "Linc and I keep in touch on a regular basis but Julie and I kind of went our separate ways," he said sadly. "It's a long story."

"Didn't the three of you get together about a year ago when you helped your old boss with a case he had?" Phil prodded.

"Uh-huh," Pete answered absently, his mind drifting back to that very memory. He was remembering seeing both Linc and Julie, after seven years of living separate lives, out of the force. Being together with them again was so great he remembered how reluctant he was to see the brief reunion end. After being with Linc and Julie again Pete had to admit that the happiest times in his life were when the three of them were inseparable both on the job and off. That was the time Linc was his best buddy and Julie became his best girl, even more so toward the end of their stint on the force. He also admitted to Linc at that time a year ago to purchasing a vintage restored 1950 Ford Woody wagon, a carbon copy of their first vehicle from the force, as an attempt to recapture those golden times.

Always good with cars, he now spent weekends at his beach house in Monterey in the process of restoring a gold 1971 Dodge Charger convertible, another vehicle that they used as undercover cops. Pete was so consumed with the failure of his marriage at the time of their reunion, he was grasping almost hungrily at returning to the past, to a life that he discovered he wanted back. But it was too late. Pete shook his head and pushed his chair back.

"Pete," Phil called softly, seeing him lost deep in his reverie. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry Phil, I didn't mean to take off on you. Excuse me for a minute, will you?"

With a look of resolve, Pete picked up the phone and punched a button. "Carole, would you contact the hangar at the airport and tell Captain Osborne to have the jet ready to take off within the hour? And to let me know when it's ready. Also, contact Hawkins and tell him to have the car out front in 45 minutes. And call my mother and let her know that I won't be at home tonight or the board meeting tomorrow and ask her if she would come to the office here to get briefed to stand in for me; tell her I'll call her when I get settled."

"What if she asks where you are going, sir?" Carole inquired.

"Just tell her that I was called away on some urgent business and that I will contact her with a phone number as soon as I am able," Pete directed.

"Anything else, sir?"

"No, that will be all," Pete dismissed, hanging up the phone. He looked up to see Phil staring at him questioningly. He said, "Okay Phil, I know that look. In answer to your first question, yes I am going up to Julie's. In answer to your second question I want to make sure that she and her daughter are all right and make sure she gets this money right away because she probably needs it. And that is all I am going to say about it so let's drop the whole thing, okay?" He reached under his desk to get his briefcase.

"Okay...if that's the real reason you're doing it."

"Real reason...what's that supposed to mean?" Pete was incredulous. "She's an an old friend and I want to see if I can help."

"An old friend...uh-huh." Phil nodded and turned to open the door then turned and said, "We do have a currier service to send the check to her agent so she can get it ASAP. It's called delegating. Or are you going to provide this personal service to the beneficiaries of all our policy owners?"

Pete glared at him. "Is that supposed to be funny? Because I'm not laughing."

"It wasn't meant as a joke." Phil came back and said, "It was to make you take a moment to think before you act on an impulse."

Now irked Pete demanded, "Since when have you become my keeper? I don't recall needing your approval for what I do. As you just said, I am the boss."

"Right," Phil shot back. "And you have obligations here...boss. The board won't appreciate you just skipping off on a whim. They'll demand an explanation."

Pete threw down his briefcase with a thud. "What the hell are you saying to me, Phil? That I'm being derelict in my duties?" He unlocked the case and threw it open, glowering as he snapped, "What about all that back-patting earlier? Was that just a load of bullshit as you blew sunshine up my ass?" He closed up the Bennett claim file and began rifling through the case in jerky, agitated motions as he added, "And as for the board, after what I just accomplished for this company and its future, the value of their stock dividends should skyrocket, quadrupling their current profits. Once they cash their generous dividend checks next quarter they'll be alright. As of right now my top priority is making sure Julie is."

Phil sighed and reasoned, "You don't have to get defensive with me, Pete. I just hope you know what you're doing. I know that when the three of you got together a year ago, you were reluctant to have the reunion end and I also know that seeing Julie again affected you more than you let on. And, I know that Julie is a sore spot with you and she may very well be the reason you've 'taken yourself off the market' as you put it."

Pete's eyes narrowed as he turned to face Phil squarely. "Snooping isn't really your forte, Phil, and that is a main reason I consider you a close friend so as a friend I would appreciate that you go no further in your investigation of my private life," he said in a quiet but steely voice.

He placed his address book and the Bennett claim folder in it before slamming it shut. He continued, "I want you to take care of the upcoming business meetings and take charge of the office while I'm gone."

Phil nodded in ascent, a dubious expression on his face.

The phone buzzed. Pete picked it up, punched the flashing button and said brusquely, "Cochrane, here."

"This is Captain Osborne, sir. I'm calling to you know that the jet is ready and waiting," the pilot informed him.

"Good. Captain Osborne, get a flight plan to land at Monterey Peninsula within an hour Pete instructed.

"Right away Mr. Cochrane," Captain Osborne replied.

Pete hung up the phone and reached for his business suit jacket and put it on. He then sat at his desk and wrote out a company check to JULIE BENNETT for $50,000. He reopened his briefcase and placed the check in there, closing and locking it up. Phil reached for the rest of the claim folders and headed towards the door without a word. Pete sighed and called him back but he continued walking slowly to the door so he tried to make amends.

Pete walked over and put a restraining hand on the door, preventing Phil from opening it. "Phil, I'm sorry, this is something I have to take care of. I didn't mean to snap at you. You take care of the other claims," he indicated the folders in Phil's hands. "I know that you're concerned about me," he said in a conciliatory tone. "But I have to do this. Julie's probably beside herself and a friendly face would be welcome. At one time we were as close as two people could be and not be married. As a matter of fact, I thought very seriously a long time ago about asking her to marry me. And as I look back at the mess my life became when I walked away from her and everything else, I realize that the biggest mistake among the many I've made in my life has been not asking her to marry me."

Phil sighed, "Do what you have to do, Pete, but remember that Julie has her life there and you have your life here. You're not the same people as before. And she has a daughter to consider."

"For the love of Mike, Phil, I'm not going to make a play for her. She's a new widow, what kind of a scum do you take me for?" Pete said in exasperation. "I'm going up there as a good friend to help out, that's all."

"Okay, Pete," Phil said resignedly, knowing that Pete had his mind made up and wasn't going to listen to him anyway. "Just keep in touch so I can brief you on the board meetings and whatever needs your immediate attention. And I'll have Grace see me when she gets here."

"Will do...and please assure my mother that I'm okay."

Phil opened his mouth to say something but thought against it and instead opened the door to leave. "Oh, Phil," Pete called.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, " Pete said gratefully. The phone buzzed and he answered it, waving to Phil as he went out closing the door, "Yes, Carole?"

"The car's downstairs waiting, sir," Carole informed him.

"Thank you Carole. Tell Hawkins I'll be right down," Pete replied.

He hung up the phone, reached for the brief case and hurried out closing the door. He rushed over to the elevator, hit the down button and when it opened, got in pushing the ground floor button. When he got there, Pete started in a dead run to the waiting car, handed his briefcase to the waiting chauffeur and climbed into the back seat. The chauffeur closed the door and got behind the wheel. He shifted the car to drive and headed to the highway that would take them to the airport. Due to light highway traffic, they got there in less than twenty minutes.

Hawkins drove the Rolls Royce limousine right to the waiting jet, where he and Pete got out. He handed the briefcase to Pete as he hurried up the stairs into the plane. Pete thanked Hawkins who wished him a good trip and Hawkins turned and disembarked from the jet. Pete buckled his belt and settled himself for the hour flight. Captain Osborne, a stoic man of about forty with salt and pepper hair approached him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Cochrane, but the information you requested is right here." He handed Pete a sheet of paper with directions in a printout to the Bennett Horse Ranch. Due to the fact that the Bennett Ranch was well known in the Salinas area, the directions were relatively easy to follow.

"Thank you Captain Osborne." Pete continued studying the document.

"We'll be taking off as soon as I receive clearance from the control tower," Captain Osborne intoned. He then turned smartly and headed for the pilot's cockpit.

Pete finished memorizing the directions sighed and closed his eyes, trying to arrange his thoughts and put together his plans, wondering how Julie was going to react to seeing him show up unexpectedly at her doorstep. He was going under a broad and optimistic assumption that she would be glad to see him but he had to admit albeit grudgingly that Phil was right in his statement that they were different people then they were on the Squad. He was known now as Peter H. Cochrane, Owner and CEO of H.C. Mutual Indemnity Co., the business his father had built into one of the largest insurance providers in California.

When his father passed away, he had written in his will for Pete to inherit sixty percent of the stock in the company, putting him in the controlling seat on the Board of Directors. By default, he actually became what he had adamantly swore he'd never become, his father's son. Now everyone at the office, with the exception of Phil Adamson practically jumped when he made a request, always punctuating every response with a respectful "Yes, sir." It was still hard to take at times, that most of the older employees, who had worked for his father for years, considered Pete to be as formidable as the late Harrison Cochrane was just because he was his son. Pete had often said that had his father not succumbed to pancreatic cancer in the fall of 1978, he would have found another field of endeavor. He had even entertained the possibility of opening his own private investigation agency, utilizing the skills he had amassed while doing five years of undercover police work.

While on the Squad, he had turned his back completely on the privileged life he had grown up knowing, and lived simply by his parents' lavish standards. When he left the force, he had no real plans so when his mother Grace called one day and told him about his father's illness, Pete felt obligated to come home and help his father. And so began his reluctant initiation into the family business. He even met his wife Donna through a business associate of his father's and because she was suitable in his parents' eyes, they welcomed her into the family with open arms.

He fell in love with Donna because it seemed that she wanted exactly what he thought he wanted at the time, a carefree life with no children. They were both concerned about the reports of overpopulation at the time and their mutual concern with being socially conscious seemed to fit together perfectly. They got married and after a fairly happy two years together, Pete had changed his mind and began wanting to have a family. This feeling increased as his father's battle with cancer was faltering, causing Pete to realize his own mortality and as he pressed Donna on the matter, he found out that she still most definitely did not want children. They began to drift apart, seeing less of each other, he spending more time with his ailing father, she pursuing her career and her interests, all without him.

In spite of that, they made a concentrated effort to make the marriage work, seeing a marriage counselor, and one night, while they were both under the influence of too much wine, they made love for what became the last time. They were still trying to work out their problems when a month later, unknown to Pete, Donna discovered she was pregnant. But the final straw that sent their crumbling marriage to the ground for good was Donna's having an abortion without telling Pete she was carrying his baby. When he finally found out, he was absolutely livid, and without a word, immediately packed his belongings and moved out of their home in Bel Air. Shortly after that, Pete filed for divorce, and between that and his father's failing health, he was at the breaking point emotionally. Donna wanted a huge financial settlement and the Malibu Colony beach house Pete's parents gave them as a wedding present so to be rid of her, he agreed.

His father lost the five-year battle with cancer and he passed away leaving Pete the entire Cochrane fortune, which consisted of an enormous amount of money, stocks, bonds, several property holdings, a Lear jet, and fifty foot yacht, as well as controlling interest in the family business. It was also at that time his beach house he had built on the purchased beach land in Monterey Bay was completed and ready to use. He needed a place all his own; to get away from everyone and everything and it was there as well that he began collecting cars that reminded him of his happier time on the Squad with Linc and Julie. It became a refuge...an inner sanctum that provided the needed rest and escape he craved. He also found that he preferred the privacy and anonymity he had out of the Los Angeles area, because he couldn't go anywhere there without being recognized and crowded, especially by women.

Pete was so intently into his thoughts that he didn't even realize they had arrived at Monterey Peninsula Airport. Captain Osborne approached him and told him that they had landed. Pete shook himself mentally and girded himself for his upcoming reunion with Julie. He looked forward to it with a mixture of eagerness and uncertainty as he disembarked.

NEXT….HISTORY REPEATS