Nolan's Journal Chapter 6
"Lucy is back. Somehow she managed to make friends with one of Laurence Miguel's paralegals. They met for lunch at his offices, and when the friend was called away for a couple of minutes, Lucy got into the files and started taking pictures. The name of a cartel member was on one of the documents with the notation 'LA,' so Harper and the DEA are following up. I think Lucy was hoping that Tim would take her to dinner or something, as a celebration of her triumphant return. If she was, she was disappointed. He went off on a Metro op. Tamara wasn't even around to celebrate with her. She has a new nanny gig. Harper and Angela took pity on Lucy and took her to a karaoke bar. Lucy can belt it out with the best of them, but from what Harper told me, Lucy's heart wasn't in it. Harper said Lucy sang 'I've Never Felt So Alone' by Labyrinth with Billy Eilish. I've never heard the song. It's not exactly my generation, but it sounds depressing."
"I thought Bailey's motherhood urge from rescuing that child wore off, but it seems to have sprung back to life. If it stays with her, we'll have some serious talking to do. Aside from the sleepless nights, diaper duty, trips to the pediatrician, and all the other normal challenges of parenthood, there is the matter of both of our schedules. We both work long hours, not even counting overtime. And neither of us has the kind of job where we can arrange our hours to cover time with a baby. Sarah and I tried that. We tried hard and almost went into bankruptcy from the effort.
"Of course, Henry's heart problems made his early years alternately joyful and terrifying. They also made it much more difficult to hire a sitter Sarah and I could both trust. That was an unusual situation, but that's not to say it couldn't happen again. As potential moms go, Bailey is on the upper end of the age range. That alone would make a pregnancy more risky. And even if men can sire kids way into our senior years, there are risks attached to that as well. When Sarah and I went through everything with Henry, we were both young and resilient. It still exhausted us. I honestly don't know how well Bailey and I could handle something like that. I do know for sure that it would be anything but easy. I can and will talk all of that out with Bailey, but I don't know if talking can compete with an instinctual urge. I guess I'll find out.
"One thing that continues to go in the right direction is my work with Celina on the Community Center. The paperwork is going through to use the storefront, and Celina has begun enlisting volunteers to do the work necessary to transform it from what Sabina refers to as an evil presence into a source of hope. The neighborhood is also putting together a drive to furnish the place. The volunteers and I can build in storage space, so we'll just need furniture and appliances. Who knows what we'll get? I doubt that anything will match, but the donations will be given with love. They'll also have positive vibes or however Celina wants to describe them. Sabina will perform whatever rituals she believes are necessary to purge any hostile spirits.
"If I thought Grey would go along with it, I'd let Celina get Sabina into the garage at Mid-Wilshire to banish hostile spirits there. I don't know why, but in the last week, three shops have broken down, despite supposedly timely maintenance. That's put a real crimp in putting enough cops on the street. Our guys have been doubling up, which means covering less territory and longer response times. Complaints of delays are increasing. So far, they haven't gotten anyone killed, but it may just be a matter of time.
"More on the domestic front. Our neighbors have decided to have a block party/garage sale. This is pretty timely for Bailey and me. Since she sold her place, we've had a lot of her stuff sitting in storage – including the orange chair, which I thought she loved and she turned out to hate. Now that we're married, there's no doubt that she's here to stay. So it will be a great chance to unload the stuff. The storage unit is costing us a fortune, so even if we practically give the stuff away, we'll make out on the deal.
"The event will also be a chance to get to know our neighbors better. I already knew the ones Bailey was housesitting for when she came to my door in a towel. Obviously, so did she. But there are some new ones in the neighborhood as well as some we've never had a chance to meet. I admit I have slightly mixed feelings about that. I believe that most people feel more secure having a cop in the neighborhood, and Bailey is a great resource in a medical emergency – at least until the EMTs on call arrive. Still, the neighbors who already know me knock on my door whenever there's a bump in the night. I'm usually happy to help, but there have been times when the knock has come at a really bad time. And I don't want Bailey bothered for every nicked finger, either. But I suppose it goes with the territory. I'm not sure I want it to slip that I'm a contractor either. I get enough Mr. Fixit calls from the cops at Mid-Wilshire. Right now I'd rather use my skills at the community center, at least until the volunteers have it fully in hand.
"Still, the party/sale could be great! Bailey is going to make a firehouse-sized batch of her firehouse chile. She's also making the sauce for the ribs I'm going to barbecue. The family at the end of the block has a theatre-style popcorn machine, and one of the other neighbors has an ice shaver for snow cones. Some of the teens are even playing music. I doubt that I'll recognize any of it, any more than I heard of Lucy's song, but it should draw a crowd. I just hope no one complains about the noise. That could be embarrassing.
"There is one garage band in the city that, for some reason, chose to pick on me. Their song is called 'Daddy Cop.' It's got a hook, 'Arrest me, but make it sexy.' that captured Celina. Unfortunately for her, she started singing and dancing along on bodycam. When Grey reviewed the footage, he was not amused. At least he didn't admit to her that he was. But in the meantime, the song is up on YouTube with an unbelievable number of views. I doubt it will ever fade away completely. The internet is forever. And if nothing else, Smitty is keeping it alive. He pipes it from his trailer into the Mid-Wilshire parking lot every chance he gets. He told me that he'll stop if I update his mother's kitchen – for free. If he'd asked nicely, I might have given his mom a break. But I'm not about to give in to blackmail. I'm hoping that if he plays the song often enough, he'll get Grey on his tail. That, I'd really love to see.