Nolan's Journal Chapter 21
"According to Wesley, Dana Ballinger thinks he's tracked Monica Collins to Vanuatu. Of course, it has no extradition treaty with the US. The country makes a lot of its income from offshore financial services, which, apparently, Monica has been using for some time. Unfortunately, Vanuatu is made up of 80 islands, which gives Monica a lot of places to hide. Still, between Wesley's memories of her passions and the profile the FBI put together, Dana has a good idea of what will be most attractive to her. He's been able to cross a lot of spots off his list. The rest may be a combination of law enforcement intuition and dogged determination.
"Speaking of dogged determination, Bailey has completed her child development course. She's practicing on Angela and Nyla's kids whenever she gets the chance. That makes life a little easier for the detective duo and also for their husbands, who have been doing their share of parenting. Bailey didn't expect to have an easier time with babies than with older children, but that's not the way it worked out. Jackson's unlimited store of energy ran Bailey ragged. It was a little different for me with Henry at that age. He was still playing catchup from the trauma of his surgeries, but he made up for it later.
"Bailey and I don't know what age child we'll be adopting, just that it won't be a newborn or young baby. So we'll need to be prepared for anything, but I think we are still both hoping and expecting someone of school or at least pre-school age. Aside from avoiding the worst of the childcare costs, he or she won't be stuck with parents who can't keep up. The odds are with having a school-age child. There are more of them and fewer parents willing to adopt them.
"The foundation for the addition is poured, cured, and inspected. I can start the framing as soon as I get the lumber. I've had problems before with ordering a lot of things like custom tile, but never with beams, studs, or two-by-fours. According to my dealer, the wildfires contributed to the problem but most of it stems from a diplomatic tiff between the U.S. and Canada. Still, he thinks he can get me what I need within a week. I hope so.
"Lena took her rookie test. She scored 85, which is a passing, but unimpressive score, especially when compared to Stella's 97. It reflects at least as much on Tim as it does on Lena, maybe more. Instead of worrying about what Tim test he would spring on her next, she should have been studying. Despite Lucy's continuing feelings for Tim, after working with Stella, she has a little schadenfreude about Tim's failure. Tim also got the fisheye from Grey. After Tim's getting kicked out of Metro and his messy breakup with Lucy, Grey seems to have lost almost all patience with him. If Mid-Wilshire wasn't so short-handed, Tim would already have been transferred to Hollywood Division.
"Lucy hasn't received another UC assignment yet, so she's been out on patrol. She's been making some overtures toward Lena, as someone who dealt with Tim's teaching methods and learned how to handle them. Everyone at Mid-Wilshire knows Lucy's history with Tim, both as his boot and his girlfriend. I doubt it would have taken Lena more than a few hours on the job to hear all about it. That might give her a few doubts about Lucy's motives. I don't have any. Lucy has always been interested in helping whomever and whenever she can. With her continuing friction with her parents, she would deny they had any influence on her helper mentality. Still, her mother is a therapist, and Lucy seems to have inherited that bent."
"I haven't had time to write for a while because I've been working on the addition. I put up high-powered work lights around the site so that I could work at night. Bailey got me a cute little light I can wear on my forehead too. That helps when I'm lining things up with tight tolerances. The framing is all done, and the inspector signed off on it this afternoon.
"After work tomorrow, I'll be picking up the materials for the walls. Most drywall comes from China, but there's been contamination found in some of it that causes off-gassing of toxics like formaldehyde. Bailey would have a meltdown at even the slightest chance of anything like that around our child. I don't like the idea either. So I ordered U.S.-made, certified safe wall panels. The product is also fire-resistant which makes Bailey even happier. Of course, it costs more, but we both consider it worth the investment.
"Grey decided to have a switch TO's day like there was when I was a rookie. Stella went out with Tim for a day, and Lena went with me. Even before she rode with him, Stella wasn't too crazy about Tim. She spent enough time with Lucy both to pick up on Lucy's heartbreak and get a feel for what being Tim's boot would be like. She was more than ready for anything he threw at her. But the kicker was when he proposed a trip to the range. I guess he didn't get the memo about her hunting history. It's a lot harder to hit a scurrying squirrel or opossum than a stationary target or even a human being. She easily outshot him. Even in Metro, only a couple of guys could do that. He'll have a hard time living it down.
"Lena and I got along all right. She was a little wary, wondering if I might try to pull something on her the way Tim does. She was also surprised that I wanted her to drive, even though I've had Stella doing it. It's almost predictable that we'd end up in a high speed chase, Lena's first one. It turned out a lot better than my first one as a rookie did. Considering all the damage I caused during that debacle, anything would have been an improvement, but Lena got lucky. The suspect ran out of gas. When his car refused to move any farther, he took off running. Lena had no trouble bringing him down and cuffing him. She was excited enough about it that I had to give her a small reminder about reading the suspect his rights, but she got them in before he had a chance to say anything incriminating.
"What he said wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Not only were there witnesses to his jewelry store robbery and shooting, but the whole thing is on video. He wounded a clerk and a customer, but thank God they're both going to be all right. If he doesn't plead out, they'll both happily point to him in court. But I suspect that with all the evidence against him, his lawyer will advise him to go with a plea. The way the robbery made the papers and the local news, if there's a trial, Del Monte will probably prosecute it himself. After the fallout from the deal he made with Rosalind Dyer, he goes full bore on everyone. No lawyer worth anything would want his client up against that.
"Wesley is still waiting for word of progress by Dana Ballinger. They're both sure now that Monica is on one of the Vanuatu islands. It's a matter of narrowing it to which one. Also, Dana and Wesley will have to figure out how to get her back to the States for trial. With no extradition, that will be quite a trick. Still, Dana has to find her first."