The trouble came jist one day after they had wrapped up the Joe Cadillac business. Hardcastle certainly wasn't expecting any problems to appear to mar the sunny ate breakfast by the pool, then stayed mere he was, browsing through the file of one Harvey Kane. Kane, a successful drug dealer who had slipped through the law's clutches ·rrore than once, looked like a good possible target for them to tackle next.

As he read, however, one corner of his min:l was YXJildering why his reluctant Tonto hadn' t yet shown up for breakfast. Even in the short time they had been living together, he had discovered that whatever his fa\J1ts - and they were many - Mark McCormick could be counted on- to be on time for meals. &y ate like a lumberjack.

But on this particular morning, even though . Hardcastle had taken his time cooking the meal (since it was Sarah's day off, kitchen duty fell to him), then dawdled over the eggs and toast, M:Connick never put in an appearance.

And now, when he was supposed. to be • cleaning the pool, there was still no sign of life over at the Gatehouse. Hardcastle flipped over another page of the file, sighing in exasperation. Ex-cons. Sanetirnes he \oXJndered. why he bothered. And what the devil had ever him think that Mark t-k:Connick, he of the smart mouth and wise-ass grin, would be any different than all the others?

Then he looked up and thought: Speak of the Devil .

McCormick was walking across the patio toward him. Only three hours later than he should have been in getting up. And he looked to be in great shape, too. Clothes he must have slept in, and the tangled curls were rrore tangled than ever. The bastard didn't even have shoes on.

Hardcastle didn't say a oord as the younger man sat at the table and sipped fran the glass of now-wann orange juice. He made a face at the taste. 11Yuk.11

11It was cold at eight o'clock." Hardcastle's tone was unsympathetic. 11Isn 't there ITOre?" McConnick said in a tone that alITOst whined. '"There is . But you can't have it. This is breakfast for today.''

"Jeez " McConnick muttered under his breath. ''Might as well be back inside, if this is the kind of slop I have to eat."

"'That could be arranged," Hardcastle said cheerfully.

McConnick orily looked at him. Then he started to pile cold scrambled eggs onto cold toast. He took a big bite and spoke through it. "Welcome to Alcatraz South."

"If that's how you want to think of it." Hardcastle' s gocxi mocxi was relentless.

They didn't talk anymore as'"' finished. every bite of his meal. Then he stood and stretched. "Think I'll Ork on my tan today."

Hardcastle tossed the file down. "To hell with that. What you' 11 do is, cleag the pool. And then you' 11 spread fertilizer around the rose bu$hes_. Which shoul rbe a j b wel;L- utted to your talents. And th n the 'Vette needs washing. Got all that?

Or sflall I write it down for your - - -

Two blue eyes glared at him, looking for all the world like they longed to a

,- - -·- -. ·-··- -

petulant litqg_ bQy_. A_;;trange •thqught_. Hardcc1 e wondered where the re1l it hrl

· 92 dr.9m. He pushed to his feet, reminding himself as-h.e·dd- 7:neman standing in front of him was just another ex-con. A wise-guy like all the . And what Hardcastle recognized as his sneaking fondness for McConnick shouldn't obscure that. fact. "I'm going into L.A. and check some things with the cops. Have those chores done by the time I get back, tmderstand?"

fVlcConnick snapped .into a Nazi salute. '''Ja, Herr Cornnanclant.'' he said in a very bad German accent.

Hardcastle started to say something else, then he decided to save himself the effort. Instead, he just started for the truck. "Clear the table before you do any thing else.'' he ordered without looking back.

Behind him. McConnick said a dirty wora.

.J,.-Jrfl

It was late aftemoon before Hardcastle finished all his business and drove back through the gates of· the estate. The first thing he noticed was that the rose bushes were still unfertilized. Then he spotted the dirty Corvette.

Hardcastle felt his temper rising as he stalked around to the patio and fotmd, as he had almost expected he would, that the breakfast dishes were still on the table. The pool skimner was half-in and half-out of a half-cleaned pool. To complete the scene, loud music, or what passed for music these days, emanated from the Gatehouse.

As the Judge headed that way, he tried to keep his boiling anger from exploding.

:{o use· just erupting all over the place. This was a situation that called for sorre judicial temperment.

He opened the door of the Gatehouse, and all his good intentions evaporated instantly at the sight of the room, cluttered with clothes, newspapers, and the apparent remains of several late-night snacks. And, stretched out in the middle of the mess, his eyes closed as he listened to the ITTJSic, was Himself. Mark Cormick.

Hardcastle crossed the room in about three steps and yanked the plug of the cheap stereo. The room was abruptly silent. McConnick sat up. ''Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself. What the hel1_ is going on here]"

:-1cCorrnick actually grinned. ''Not much. What's going on there?"

Hardcastle sputte ed for several seconds, tmable to get his words out.- took a deep breath. ''You didn't do any of the things I_told you to do," he finally said.

"I didn't feel good. Maybe it was the breakfast you made me eat. Cold eggs can't

be good for a person. Probably I got like food poisoning from it."

Hardcastle snorted. '"Ibe only thing you're suffering from is a bad case of chronic worthlessness. Now you put your jailhouse ass in g ar ancLget busy. Start_ with the dirty dishes·arrd tvQrk your way down the list."

''Now? But it ' s almost dirn'ter time.''

"Not for you. }..lot lll1til every one of those thing - is done."

''Hell, man, you don't have to make a Federal case out of it. You've got: alL_the money in the god 1d world. Why-don't you have somebody to do that shit?"

- ••

''I do have sanebody. I have you. So get rroving. ''

The jaw was stuck out so far that it was a wonder McConnick wasn't disloca!=JI]L_

something._ "And if I d 't?"

''You don't want to find out what_ _ns_the 11

-·

McCormick stared at him for a moment, then whipped around and left the Gatehouse.

Hardcastle followed him. He watched as loaded all of the dirty dishes onto the tray. You just had to get tough with these guys sometimes, that was all. Show them plainly who was the boss.

McCormif}. picked up the tray and started across the patio. But instead of going on into··the-·house, "fie sti5pped-at "the •• side oC-the- pool; With his eyes on Hardcastle, he slowly straightened his anns and then, deliberately", released the tray. It and the dishes splashed into the water. "You wanted the dishes clecc1n, Hardcase?-So now they're clean. Happy, are you?" - -

Hardcastle felt .his boil . over again, and_.this time_he made absolutely no effort to stop it. '"That's it!" heyelled acros§_the_ pciol. ''11:itit 's it. You 're going to be one very sorry car thief before I 'm finished."- -

''Yeah?"

"Pack your bag, hotshot. You're on your way bac\ to the slamner."

"Surprise, surprise,"- McCormick said with startling softness. He walked past Hardcastle,··_toward the Gatehouse. - ·-. - - ····- ... ····-··-·-·-··-······ -·-··-

The Judge watched him go.

"I' 11 be ready in ten minutes," Mark said, now sounding strangely hollow. "I'm an ·old hand at packing fast.'' He shut the door very quietl·f:-

Rardcastle went into the house and drank sane water to wash down three aspirin. Damn, what was going on here, anyway? They had been getting along fine. Sane rough spots along the way, sure, but all in all, he'd thought the kid was settling in better than he could have hoped for. And now this. Everything was falling apart.

It was exactly ten minutes later that he heard an impatient blast from the truck's horn. He walked out to the driveway. McCormick was sitting in the truck, a battered dufflebag stuffed between his feet. ''Let's hit the road, huh?" he said.

Hardcastle climbed in behind the wheel. He looked at M:lrk for a long moment. "You seem mighty eager to get back inside."

''No sense delaying the i;nevitable." Hardcastle shrugged and started the engine.

7

For a long time, they rode in silence.

Hardcastle spoke first. "Guess I was wrong about you."

''Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time," McCormick nrumbled. ''Maybe.''

Hardcastle didn't know what else to say. Instead, he hunched over the wheel and started to mentally review McCormick's file. He had the damned thing practically memorized by now. But this time, he skipped over the most recent stuff, and went all the way back to ' s juvie file. And that made for some dismal _reading.

It was practically a case stud)' in now society worked to take_ one• basically decent kid and- tnrn-hini ihto an almost-guaranteed loser. - •-••

According to the various social agency notes in the file, after the death of his mother, Mark McCormick was shifted from one foster home to the other. The placements just never worked out. People kept sending the boy back. Uncontrollable,

they called him. A bad_influence. His easy grin and sweet manner seemed to get him placed in a lot of hares; but pretty soon, he'd start acting up and get dumped right back into the lap of the state.

The Judge almost slamned on the brakes as he realized what was happening here. He thought back, suddenly, back _years, to when his son was about five. 'Ire "l;qf

had misbehaved, how, Hardcastle could no longer remember. Just punishment ha6d een

meted out, but the boy didn't go to hls room inmediately. Instead, with tears still rolling down his face, he looked up at his father and asked, ''Don't yciu·love rre wa1 I'm bad?" •-

It was pretty easy to reassure a tearful five-ye -;-o1sf who W9: _ yQµr _.own son that, good or bad,. :le was still loved, still wanted.

But no one had ever told the young Mark McCormick

that. Wnen he

was

bad,

they just tossed him away like a piece of garbage.

-·

And -what was thi J;iµt _jus.t roor_e _of_ tie same old thing?

·- -·· ··- ,

Before Hardcastle could decide what to do with his newly discovered wisdg_m, McCormick spoke. ''Your son·was probably perfect, right?" he said in a soft _voice. He was· looking out the window, not at Hardcastle. ''Never did anything wrong."

":fl:lat's not true," Hardcastle said. "And, anyway, what my son was ox wasn't .ba.s

.!JQ!Jliog_.to do with this.''

"No, I guess it doesn't."

''You're not_ a substitute ; J_told you_t;_hat; alr_§ady."

. - . ,. .. -· - - - .

McCormick gnmted.

Hardcastle pulled the truck over to the side of the road and stopped. ,

''What's wrong?" McCormick asked, finally looking at him.

''Nothing." -Ha dcastle settled back in the seat. ''You tried real hm:l . q-i.d-l't-)O-J.-?" "Tried what?"

"To find my breaking point. To drive me crazy, to the point where I'd say,'Okay, McCormick, you' re history armmd here. rn • ·-·- • - • - - -

'Didn_'t:_ long, did it?" Surprisingly, Mark gave him a small _smile. were alI_!Os _too easy."

"'That's what you think, hotshot." Hardc:astle whipped the truck into a U-turn, and started back towards Gulls.:..way. -

''What' re you doing?" ''We' re going home.''

''We're ... going... home?" t-t:Cormick repeated in a bewildered whisper. ''Wbat ti'le hell does that mean?" -

Hardcastle glanced at him. "It means, t-t:Cormick, that you don't g_et a _

from me that easy. The Lone Ranger needs a Tonto, and you're it." - ''Why?''

"Who knows? Maybe I just think you 're the best man for the job." Hardcastle thought that mre was called for, although it irritated him. "Maybe I even like you some.''

There was a pause. "But what about everything back at the house?" "What about it?"

8

''I acted like a real jerk today.'' "That's the tnith."

"So?"

"So what?"

Again there was only silenc _frc;:rn J;be... .. seat. a sl gl1.7'So nothing:- 1 guess." He shifted a little. putting me ba:-1.:i.n_side?"

Finally_ _gave '"This -m-ea-n-y-o-u' re - n-ot

a

''Hell, no, I'm not putting you back in. For better_ O! _ for 'w0r?e, _J_ 1 , , we'-i:-

stuck ·with each other· Even when you act like ·3erk;n

''Or when you do?''

''Never happen, kiddo." He thought he heard a soft chuckle fran Mc:Connick.

Hardcastle pressed the gas pedal a little harder, suidenly eager to get hane.

-k-k-k

He ate his dinner on the patio, watching as McCormick worked to clean the mess out of the pool. The job was done with a minimun of effort and a maxim.m of bitching, but it was done.

Hardcastle just let him rave on, nodding arrl grinning occasionally.