212

Aligned Design

Ch 39

"Say, can you drop me at Gleason's flat? I want to pick up her car."

It was just past one and they were in the lift headed down to the Eames' vehicle parked in the deck. The captain had set them loose shortly after the meeting with Sledge and Bishop. Bobby was happily surprised, he had thought they would be putting in a full day.

It had turned out that the owner of the storage facility was not going to be able to get copies of the surveillance DVDs burned as quickly as he had thought, they wouldn't be delivered until sometime Monday. Then, Rodgers had been called home, some family emergency. She said she wanted to do the autopsies herself, so that meant the slugs were still inside the vics' heads, so the stippling check could not be done yet. The bodies were in cold storage until she could get back, probably sometime later that night or Sunday. At least the DNA in the hose had been prepared for processing so that information would be coming sometime Sunday. Pretty much everything had ground to a halt, which sent Eames and Goren free.

"Sure, no problem."

They rode in silence again. Both Eames and Bobby were wondering about Gleason. Each wanted to ask something. Eames went first, "Bobby, is Gleason . . . is she . . . –,"

"What! Is she what!" Bobby's head snapped toward her as he spit out the words. "What do you want to know, Eames? Is she what? Huh?"

Eames was so sorry she had said anything. "Never mind, Bobby, never mind. I was just concerned. She's been so weak since the shooting. I was just hoping nothing had gotten to her, you know a virus or something. That's all. Lighten up."

As quickly as it had come, it was gone. Bobby felt awful for having snapped at his partner. "I'm sorry. I, I didn't mean to. . . She's, she's . . ." Ask her now, he shouted to himself. Ask Eames about it.

Eames glanced over at her partner and saw a boy, a big scared boy. Neither said another thing the whole way to the campus lot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We need to get these cases moving, thought Deakins. He walked over to Sledge and Bishop. "Where are you on that sailboat?"

Bishop flipped open a folder and said, "The Coast Guard found a submerged boat fitting the general description of the missing one two miles out. They're arranging to send divers to check it out to see if it's the one gone missing. We'll know more next week."

"What about suspects? How far are we from closing this one?"

Sledge answered with, "We're looking at two guys who were seen on surveillance tapes nosing around a day before the boat left dock. They may be the perps or they were maintenance, we don't know."

"Well, find out! Go talk to people who may have seen them. Go pick them up. Check them out. You are down to this case and assisting with the art. You have time now. Move. I want these cases done with." Deakins rarely raised his voice. This was close.

Bishop and Sledge looked at each other. Neither said anything, but both were thinking the same thing. What is with him?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are we going to do?" Tilley did not handle trouble well. "He's got our money, our credit cards, our ID. Jenny, we can't do anything, go anywhere, what are we going to do?"

"Shut up! Will you just shut up?" Jenese needed to think. That sonofabitch stole the art. Christ, he couldn't even report the car stolen with the art in the back. He needed to think this through.

The hotel room door pushed open and the housekeeper saw the two naked men. "Oh, I'm sorry, the door was open and the service tag was on the handle. I can come back." With eyes the size of saucers, she backed out and pulled the door shut.

I am going to kill that bastard when I get my hands on him, Jenese thought. Tilley sat on the edge of the bed. Jenny crossed and sat beside him. "Well, we have the room for," he checked his watch, "three more hours."

Tilley looked at him and licked his lips. Jenny never could refuse him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deakins went back to his office and shut the door. He called Angie.

"It's me. How's Julie?"

"Hi sweetheart. She's in her room, can't you hear the music? How are things there?"

"The same. Look, I'm probably going to put in a full day here. I was hoping to be out by now. I'll be home by six. Think about doing something tonight. I want to do something with you and Julie – if she'll have us. Ok? Talk with her. Is she planning on staying in today. It's Saturday, I'm surprised she's still home. Have you checked to see if she's up there?"

"Jimmy, are you OK? You sound . . . anxious. Are you ok?" He got this way when he was bothered, he talked a lot.

Deakins put his head in his hand. He was anxious. He was being hassled by the brass, his best detective was nuts, his best detective's woman was probably pregnant, his second best pair of detectives seemed to be slacking off, he just handed off a major Federal assist case – yes, one could say he was anxious.

"I'm ok. I just want to be with you and Julie. Look, I'll see you at six. Call me if she's up to anything, ok?"

"I love you. We'll see you later."

"Love you, too. Bye." They hung up and Deakins opened the paperwork to transfer the uranium case back to the Feds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You wan me to warm up tomma ditt pahgett? It look good, ditt pahgett. You wan tomm?" Estella was bent over, digging through the refrigerator.

"No, no spaghetti, Estella. Thanks. I'm not really hungry."

Estella shut the fridge and turned around. "You gotta eat tommting, Mitt. You till too fin. You gotta feed you and dah ba-," she stopped. She wouldn't speak again of the baby. She had seen a sadness around the event. She didn't know the kind of sadness, but Estella knew the joy of this new life had been snuffed out before it could brighten other lives. It was sad.

"I tell you what. I go en get utt a pidda. Down deh block, dey habb good pidda. You like lotta peprony, you like lotta --,"

"Estella, please. I'm not hungry. Thank you for being so kind. For looking after me, but I'm just not hungry. Please." Gleason stood and wrapped her arms around herself again. She just wanted to sleep. She was so tired. And her back ached a little. From too much lying down, she thought. But she was so tired.

Estella looked at Gleason. "Ok. Ditt plate already crean. You crean up fore I come, Mitt? It all crean. Notting for me to do."

"No, Bobby cleaned up."

"Why he do dat? Huh? He know it my job. He pay me to crean up."

"I don't know, Estella. He just did." She wanted to go lay down.

Estella looked at Gleason. "Ok. I go. You rett. Mitter Bobby, he be home toon? He look affer you. I be back nett week. I go. You rett, Mitt. I go now." She took her jacket from the knob on the front door, slipped it on and turned to look at Gleason again.

"Estella, thank you. For, for talking with me. I know you are mistaken about what you said, but thank you for talking with me. And for doing the clothes. I'll see you next week. Thank you."

"Ok, Mitt. Tay hi to Mitter Bobby, yet? Bye-bye."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eames turned into the drive beside Gleason's campus flat. Her Volvo sat in the spot she usually used. "Is Gleason going to keep her flat?" she asked Bobby and was immediately sorry she had, she was fearful of how he would respond. He really is on a hair trigger, she thought.

"No, in fact, she said she would call today to give notice."

Eames pulled into a spot two places away from the Volvo. Bobby sat for a moment, She knew he wanted to ask her something; she didn't say a word, she was afraid to.

"Eames." He didn't say anything else. She waited. "Eames, does a wom--," he just couldn't do it. He could not ask Eames. He would do what he always did; he would research it. He would go to the library and find out everything he could. Or, he would use Gleason's computer and look online.

Eames turned toward him, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, thanks, Eames, for the uh, for picking me up this morning and for dropping me here." Bobby didn't look at her as he said this. His hands were chopping like crazy. This wasn't easy for him, Alex knew he had more he wanted to say. She waited quietly. "Thanks, thanks too, for, for not, not pushing me and, uh, not freaking when I get, get, you know. . ."

"I know, Bobby, I know." She watched the relief flood into him.

"Ok. Well, have a good weekend. I'll see you Monday, ok?" Bobby opened the door and stepped out. He bent back down and looked in at his partner and smiled. She smiled back.

Bobby watched her back out and then he went to Gleason's car. He had her extra car key on a ring with the extra flat key. That ring was attached to his key ring. It made for a bunch of keys in his pocket, but it was a comforting bunch. Soon, there would just be her extra car key. He opened her Volvo, got in with his left leg still out and adjusted the seat all the way back. Gleason was tall, but he was taller. He tilted back the seat back as well.

Bobby thought of the places he wanted to stop. A drug store for sure. He'd stop and pick up something for lunch. Nothing with tomato sauce. Then home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pregnancy tests, pregnancy tests. . . Bobby walked around the drug store looking. Where are they? He didn't want to ask. 'Feminine Hygiene,' that sounds right. He found the assortment. Bobby was the only male in the aisle. Two women, one at each end, looked over at him. He tried to look casual. Then he thought, so what?

He picked up one and read the box. Ninety-nine percent accurate. That's good. First urine stream of day. Ok. Earliest results. How early are we? Easy to read. We can read. Bobby looked at the shelves. There are so many kinds, he thought. One of the ladies walked his way and stopped beside him. He stepped aside and gave her a side-long glance.

She reached for one of the boxes, held it out to him, and said, "This is the best one." She looked up at him and smiled. Bobby took it with a smile and a whispered, "Thanks." She nodded and walked away. Bobby replaced the one he had been looking at.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estella walked slowly to the bus. She felt so sad for her Bobby. She loved him like a son. She loved Gleason like a daughter. She wanted them to be happy. This baby should make them happy. But it would not. Estella was afraid the grey she saw in Gleason's aura would spread. This baby might destroy what they had.

She sat on the bench at the stop and wondered about the grey she saw. She thought of all it might mean. Gleason's aura had been so pale whilst she was healing. Over the weeks, as Gleason recovered, her aura had brightened, the colors deepened. Bobby's aura had always been strong. Estella knew he was smart, very smart, she could see all that silver woven throuh his colors. All of his colors were bright, deep, pure, his bands were wide and thick. Estella had never seen a love color like his, tinged in gold, it was! He loved Gleason so much.

The baby color had not shown itself until Gleason had nearly recovered. Looking back, Estella thought she had seen a glimmer of it, but it was so, so pale. Maybe she just imagined seeing it all those weeks ago. But she saw it for sure four weeks ago. It was so pretty, light green leading to soft yellow then pale white. A boy.

Estella saw the bus round the corner and she stood. She took her pass from her coat pocket. The bus sighed to a stop in front of her. Estella sighed with it and climbed aboard.