CHAPTER 3

"Mr. Knowles, I'm sorry to bother you..." Ada Martinson caught sight of the husband of one of the nursing home's residents as he made his way down the hall toward her room. He stopped and slowly turned to face her. "I really hate to mention it, but we haven't received the payment for Mary Alice this month."

"Oh, is it that time already?" Rudy tried to act surprised. "Well, uh..." Fumbling in his coat pockets he gave her a guilty look. "I believe I left the checkbook at home. Can I give it to you this evening?"

"Okay...but please make sure you do – I've tried to keep Mrs. Aaron at bay but...well, you know how she can be."

"Sure, sure. Thank you, young lady." Turning, he went on toward his wife's room. He was going to have just enough to pay for her care at the nursing home but not much else. Never in all of his years had he ever thought about a life of crime but when Mary Alice could no longer be cared for by him in their home, he had had to sell practically everything they owned to get her into the nursing home. The proceeds from the sale of the house and their possessions had managed to keep everything afloat for three years but now it was gone and he was scraping up money however he could. For the last month that had included the jewelry store robberies that his friend Declan Gallagher had masterminded. The first two had been difficult for Rudy to pull off, but since it was for Mary Alice he did it. His conscience bothered him terribly but he had nowhere else to turn.

Please let today be a good one for her, he silently prayed before quietly slipping into room 118 to find Mary Alice up and seated in a rocking chair staring out the window at the passing traffic. "Good morning, Love." For the last forty six years he had said the same exact words to her every morning. But for the last three months he never knew if she would remember who he was. Some days she was at herself and could remember more than he could himself. But on the bad days, she had no idea who either of them were or where she was and would often fly into a panic. It was then that the nurses would sedate her and she would spend the day in a sleepy haze, while Rudy sat and held her hand and tried to feed her.

As soon as she heard him and turned her head he knew: it was a bad day. "Who are you?"

"It's me, Love – it's Rudy, your husband. Remember?" He would go to her and try to give her a hug but very rarely did that work anymore. Today he didn't even make it to her side before she began screaming, her eyes wide with fear, the frail voice screeching question after question, never waiting for an answer and then not understanding when she received one. The nurses and staff had become accustomed to it and it was no more to them than retrieving an errant child and putting it into a drug-induced time out. As they descended on the room once again he felt the tears come to his eyes. It was the third time that week that it had happened. In a couple of minutes she was sedated and put to bed, the rails put up and what felt like bars on his heart were put in place. Then as suddenly as they had shown up the staff disappeared, leaving him with the shell of the woman that had once been vibrant and intelligent – the only woman he had ever loved. "Oh, Mary Alice...please come back to me...please." He took her hand now and sat down in the uncomfortable chair. "I need to talk to you, Love." But as he looked up at her now, her eyes closed and mouth hanging open slightly the fear crept in again. What in the hell am I supposed to do?

Wednesday morning at the ranch found Matt slipping out of the bed before the alarm went off. He figured that any extra sleep that CJ could get would be to her advantage as well as the twins. A nice hot shower put him in a more positive mood than he had been in the night before. His work on the combat simulator was coming right along and despite Derwin's nervousness about the meeting Matt felt like the folks from the Defense Department would be satisfied. He planned to spend the majority of the day working on the project and estimated that if he could keep on at the pace he had planned, it should be completely ready in just under a week – something that he hadn't yet told his partner about. Although he knew it would put Dunlap's mind at ease somewhat, he also knew how unexpected events tended to crop up in his life and he was doing his best to keep a little buffer of time between himself and the deadline.

Dressing quietly, he slipped out of the bedroom closing the door behind him and heard a giggle coming from the nursery that was still Catey's room. He and CJ had been working on her new bedroom which would be right next to theirs and across the hall from Sheila. All he had left to do was to put together the toddler bed that they had gotten for her and it would be ready. Opening the door to the nursery he saw her standing up in the crib as she laughed at Tilly, the half Blue Heeler / half Husky that was her constant companion. "Are you girls up already?"

"Daddy!" Catey threw her arms out to him as he put his finger to his lips.

"Let's be quiet so Mama can get a little extra sleep, okay?"

"'Kay."

"What do you want to wear today, Lady Bug?" He pulled her from the crib and together they picked out one of her favorites: a denim dress and bright pink shirt. In a couple of minutes she was dressed and the pair headed to the kitchen to let Tilly out. As they came back in they were met by Sheila.

"Look who's already up and dressed like a big girl!" The nanny took Catey and sat her in her high chair. "She's an early riser here lately."

"At least she's in a good mood." Houston poured coffee for both of them as Sheila began putting breakfast together and they were soon joined by the Novellis and Uncle Roy. "You all set for your tour today?" Houston looked at Vince's oldest son, the realization that he was just a few weeks away from beginning college starting to sink in. While he would have a dorm room on campus, the ranch would be his home away from home.

"Sure am." A nervous smile flitted across his face.

"Bet he won't even miss y'all, Vince." Matt gave his best friend a wink.

"Nope, he's ready to get away from us." The former cop had a seat at the table.

"It isn't like that, Dad."

"Sure it isn't." Vince watched as the teen sat down and began helping Catey with her breakfast, an expression of sadness floating across his face momentarily; Matt saw it and wondered how it must feel to be in his friend's shoes. One day he would be facing the same thing as Catey got older.

A short time later CJ came into the kitchen and sat down in the chair that Matt pulled out for her, the pair exchanging a good morning kiss. "How ya feelin', Babe?"

"Really good." She was all smiles and as Tomás came in and sat down, the group began talking and cutting up as they were so likely to do.

By 8:00 Matt was hard at work in CJ's home office. It had turned into an office for both of them and she had suggested that he move a desk in for himself, something that he hadn't done yet. The Novellis and Uncle Roy along with Tomás had set out for the tour of USC, leaving the Houston family and Sheila at the ranch. Just as he saved part of his work, Matt's cell phone rang and he looked at the ID: Michael. "Hey, what's up?"

"I think we may have a hit on one of the jewelry store robbers with the facial recognition."

"Not bad." Realizing that his coffee cup was empty, the PI headed for the kitchen and a refill as Hoyt gave him what he knew on the possible suspect.

"Declan McClain Gallagher, age 72. He's a con man – been arrested a few times here and there, but doesn't have a history of violence. Kind of an old-school type of robber."

"Don't let Uncle Roy hear you say that." The PI snickered as he went through the den to the office.

"I wanted to ask you about him."

"Uh oh."

"Do you think he might be up to doing some undercover work? Lee had an idea." The lieutenant looked over at the young detective who was leaning against the window sill.

"He seems to be doing just fine. His last check up was good. Right now he's at USC with the Novellis, though."

"When he gets back can you have him call me?"

"Sure." He sat back down behind the desk and took a sip. "Do you need any other help?"

"No, I think Roy might be our best bet."

"Oh..." Not knowing exactly why, Matt felt a little disappointed. "Well then, I'll tell him to call you."

"Thanks. Gotta go." Hoyt was gone and Houston sat looking at the phone for a minute before returning to the keyboard and the simulator.

Around 12:30, Matt and CJ were finishing up lunch with Catey when the group returned from USC and the PI gave Roy the message. "Undercover, huh? Been a while." The elder Houston got a grin on his face and pulled out his phone to call the cop.

At 2:45 that afternoon Rudy Knowles left his wife's bedside and went back to his apartment to meet with Gallagher about the next job. Declan usually spent his mornings scoping out likely targets and most of their jobs were done in the afternoon.

"I've got another one lined up for us." At five feet six inches tall, Gallagher often reminded Rudy of a crazed leprechaun. His red hair had long ago turned to more of a golden-gray color but the spirit of mischief was still there in the glee that he felt when he pulled another job on an unsuspecting pigeon. "Okay, this place is another great location: it's on the northeast corner of Manning and National Boulevard. They've only got two cameras..." The short man had been quickly erasing the marker board that he kept on the kitchen refrigerator and now began drawing the layout of the store, both inside as well as their escape route outside. "Camera number one is aimed at the front door." He put a red x and a dashed line between the location of the camera and the area that it covered. "The other is behind the counter at the register. Jericho Jewelers is known for it's emeralds but we'll be concentrating on diamonds. Our buyer has more of a demand for them and we can get a better price." Rudy looked around at the other accomplices: Ted and Judy Durst who had been married fifty years. Like Rudy, they had never thought about living a life of crime but with the skyrocketing cost of living and the small amount that was paid out by Social Security, they had taken on the enterprise that had presented itself when they met Gallagher at a seminar on supplemental insurance. Rudy tried once more to concentrate on the conman's plan.

"We need to change it up a little bit this time. Don't want to use the same act again too soon – but you all did a great job yesterday – a great job. Now, here's the plan..."

At 4:00, Rudy pulled into the lot of the grocery that was located right next door to Jericho Jewelers. His job that day was to be the wheel man for the others who would be pulling the job: Ted and Declan. Watching from two rows away, he saw as Ted entered the store and then exactly three minutes later Declan walked through the doors, his shuffling gait and stooped posture a far cry from his normally very mobile self. The driver knew that it wouldn't be long. As he watched the front door of the shop intently, his mind kept drifting back to Mary Alice and he wondered how much longer the torment of her Alzheimer's would continue; it had been six years since she was diagnosed and none of the medications that the doctors had prescribed had helped. The thought of losing her was one that he could hardly bear to think about, but he knew that her quality of life was practically non-existent.

Suddenly Declan was scrambling into the car yelling for him to snap out of it and drive. "Where's Ted?"

"Never mind him – just go!" Gallagher looked back over his shoulder as Knowles pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto National Boulevard headed east.

"What happened?" He glanced over as Declan began pulling jewelry from his coat pockets and hastily stuffing it down into a cloth bag.

"He keeled over. I think he had a heart attack."

"Are you crazy?! We can't just leave him there!"

"Relax. He's not in any trouble."

"Not in trouble? Damn it, man! He may be dead!" Knowles made a quick left turn into a bank parking lot and pulled back out going west and back to the jewelry story.

"They already called an ambulance. Now calm, down. All you have to do is go back to the apartment." Gallagher was actually sitting there smiling.

"He could be dead already!"

"In which case going back would be a really bad idea – you know they'll call the cops." The conman saw the indecision on Rudy's face. "Besides, if you hurry up and get back to the apartment you can take Judy to the hospital." He watched as what he had said sunk into the other man's brain and he turned the vehicle around once more and headed east. Smiling again, Declan continued. "And while you two are seeing to him, I'll go see our friendly neighborhood fence and collect our earnings. Maybe we should give Ted a bonus this time, huh? With everyone's attention on him I grabbed even more loot than I thought I could."