He was wide-awake. She was fast asleep. It was Saturday morning. Cap had insisted that they turn off their beepers for the weekend and not answer the phone. They were happy to oblige his request. So here they were, Rita taking full advantage of some extra time to rest and get some badly needed sleep and Chris, full of nervous, excited energy, wondering what glorious things the weekend held for them. The bedroom they shared was brightening by the moment. Chris lay on his back, his head turned to the right to watch his partner, his best friend as she slept. If he hadn't been watching her so closely, he thought, she may as well be have been dead. She was so quiet, so peaceful, she hadn't moved the entire night. She must have been really tired. He smiled and grinned just enjoying himself by watching her. He was an incredibly lucky man. The longer he laid there though, next to her, the more awake he became. Loads of pent-up energy inside of him were aching to bust loose. He hated the thought of waking her, but deep inside he longed for her in every waking thought, and heck, most unconscious moments too. He decided to go for a run, maybe clear his body and mind of the little things that were bogging him down. He wanted Rita for all time. This woman next to him was his life, he was consumed by his love for her, he couldn't stand being away from her, even just for a moment. Did she feel the same way? He certainly thought so, underneath so many layers of her past, he could feel it, he never doubted it. She sometimes doubted herself he thought, keeping things buried, deep down, afraid to expel them. Someday he knew she'd feel for him exactly what he felt for her. And she'd be able to tell him too. He never doubted that either. He reached over and kissed her softly on the cheek, hoping she'd wake up. She still didn't stir. Chris shook his head in disbelief and silently grumbled, got up quietly and put on a pair of running shorts, a Michigan T-shirt and his trademark Michigan hat.
The brightly shinning sun nearly blinded him as he stepped out of the apartment building. He stretched out for a few minutes and then took off down the road of the familiar neighborhood. "This is gonna be an absolutely great day," he said aloud to no one as he passed a personal 2 mile mark. So many things in his life were good these days. The number one reason was Rita. She was all he had ever wanted and now he was learning that she was even so much more than that. Today was going to be another step in the direction of their life together. They'd been talking for awhile now about getting a new place together, rather than splitting time between his loft and her apartment. They discussed getting a downtown loft with an ocean view and today they were going to do some serious looking. Chris had been busy all week secretly crunching some numbers in his spare time. He was going to surprise Rita this morning with what he had come up with; they may be able to afford buying a house, rather than renting a loft. He couldn't wait to see her expression. Ever since Cotton tried to 'assist' Rita in getting a home a few years back, she had continued to be crazy about the idea of having her own place. Chris remembered this and hoped his investigation into their finances would be just the thing to show her how committed he was to her and their relationship.
He rounded around about the five mile mark and decided he'd start to head back. Just thinking about owning a home with her brought another grin to his face. He knew that meant another huge step was coming fast too. Heck, he'd have married her after that first night they shared together, maybe even sooner, but Rita still had some fears about the future, so he was careful not to pressure her or hurry her. She'd come around when she was ready. Something inside him told him he'd know when the time was right. He knew it was coming and for now he could live with things as they were.
Also in the works for this gorgeous day was the 16th annual Palm Beach Jazz Festival. The festivities were slated to start around noon at Ocean Front Park. All afternoon and evening, as well as all day Sunday, great music, food and fun would be emanating from the Park. One of Chris' friends from college, Howie, was in one of the featured bands and Chris was looking forward to seeing and hearing his group perform. The band was slated to perform at 2pm and again at 6pm. Chris and Rita were hoping to hit the 6pm show.
With about a half mile to go, Chris pulled up in front of the bagel store. He went inside and ordered some for himself and Rita. As he came out he lightly jogged part of the way, then slowed to a brisk walk upon nearing Rita's apartment. He pulled out the key, grabbed the newspaper and went inside. Still no movement or sound coming from the bedroom. Chris walked into the kitchen and started to make a pot of coffee. He set the bagels on a plate and went upstairs to wake the dead, geez, he wondered looking in, still sleeping and he'd been gone for over an hour. He shook his head as he saw her still in the exact position she was in when he had left her. He decided to let her sleep awhile longer. He opted for getting cleaned up, so instead he went to grab a quick shower and give her a little more time.
Whether it was the smell of coffee or the sound of the shower, Rita finally began to awaken. She smiled as she heard the water running, knowing that Chris was in there, but for now, the lure of another man, 'Juan Valdez,' and his aromatic coffee had her heading in the other direction. Right now she just felt like being lazy. She went downstairs and poured herself a cup and spotted the bagels, smiling to herself at Chris' thoughtfulness and then began to indulge herself. Chris came down about five minutes later, sporting a clean pair of shorts and a tank undershirt.
"Hey, handsome, how long have you been up?" Rita greeted him with a smile.
"Long enough to grab a ten mile run, a half dozen bagels and a lonely shower," he began, "and you better not have eaten the blueberry one."
"Would I do that?" she asked with a grin of her own.
He kissed her softly and rubbed her back as he went for his own cup of coffee, "ah, yes you would, that's why I got two," he proclaimed, with a smile.
"You should have woken me up," she started.
"Why? We've got the whole day, and you looked really peaceful," he said taking a sip of coffee.
"Well, the run would have been nice, but I am anxious to go loft searching, did you grab the paper?"
"Yes I did, it's on the table by the door," he said matter of factly as he was smearing cream cheese on a bagel, while motioning towards the paper.
Rita walked over and grabbed it and went and sat in front of the sofa, crossing her legs Indian style. "Well I've already got the list I've been making this week of all the open houses, but let's see if there's anything new before we get going." Chris watched her as she strategically opened up the paper to the real estate listings and grabbed her own personal list she had, plus a yellow highlighter and a pencil.
"Hey Sam, you know I've been thinking a lot about this too," he started rather seriously.
She looked up from the paper momentarily stunned by what he had just said. Fearing the worst, she asked slightly dejected, "You don't want to get a new place together do you?"
"No, no, it's not that at all," he chuckled and tried to start again but she interrupted, "I'm sorry, I practically did this all by myself, I didn't even ask for your input."
He walked over to her and sat on the floor beside her in front of the sofa. "Would you just listen please?" She nodded. "I've been doing some number crunching this week and," he said stretching out the and.
"And what?" she asked puzzled, narrowing her eyes.
"And I think we maybe can afford to buy a house together, rather than renting," he finally blurted out, avoiding eye contact with her.
"Are you kidding? Really? Do you think we can?" she asked, running her thoughts together.
"Yeah," he nodded and smiled, "I mean it's not gonna be one of those golfing mansions we're so used to seeing, but yeah, I think we can, wanna see what I came up with?"
He had already gotten back up and was headed toward the kitchen, where he secretly been keeping some papers hidden away from her. She watched him walk away, his aftershave lingered in the air around her, she inhaled deeply. She loved that scent. He was so good to her, he always had been. Now as she watched him standing in the kitchen, shuffling papers, she thought of this latest surprise and how thoughtful he had always been to her. Her mind was racing with this news and what buying a house together meant. She called out to Chris from where she sat, "Chris, do you think this is the right time to do this?"
Without turning around he answered, "Yeah, it's a perfect time to buy a house, the market is flooded with homes and interest rates are real low."
She put her head down, he had misinterpreted what she meant. After she didn't reply he turned around and saw her sitting there with her head down. "Sam, what's up?" he asked heading back towards her. She looked up at him. "Don't you want to do this Sammy," he asked her, not sitting back down but rather just standing near her glancing down at where she sat. She still didn't say anything. He shook his head and plopped down beside her. "I thought we were moving beyond this," he said. Now their eyes met, neither one giving any ground.
"I thought we were too," Rita began, shrugging her head and shoulders in disbelief.
"Then what is it?" Chris prodded her.
"I guess I just get afraid when I think about it," she tried to explain.
"So you're afraid of me?" he asked and quickly added, "Rita, I'll never do anything to hurt you, ever, you know that. I promise," he said reaching for her. She pulled away from his touch.
He put his hands up and backed off.
"I know that," she said quietly.
"Then I guess I don't understand what you mean?" he said softly.
Rita exhaled deeply and tried to tell him, to explain to him, "I'm afraid if I let myself love you too much, I'll loose you too," she said staring directly into his eyes.
"That's not gonna happen either. I promise you that too," he said happily, quickly kissing her, dismissing the conversation in his mind anyway and jumping back up and heading toward his secret papers in the kitchen. "So do ya wanna see this or not?" he asked cheerfully waving the paperwork for her to see. She cleared her mind of this latest conversation as well, she just wanted to make Chris happy right now. She needed to show him just how much it meant to her.
She watched his relaxed movements, he was so sure of himself, who he was and what he wanted out of life. Sometimes his confidence scared her, but most times it gave her strength just being with him, near him. She silently came up behind him as he was organizing the papers in the order he wanted her to see them. She slid her arms around him and again breathed his fresh scent in thoroughly and hugged him tightly from behind. She felt his arms and chest tighten up from her surprising touch. She leaned her head in tightly against his back and enjoyed the warmth and strength that seeped from him, while he tipped his head backwards and exhaled deeply. He stopped what he was doing, set the papers down and let himself fully enjoy what she was beginning to do to him. She began running her hands up and down his arms and chest from behind, finally reaching down and sliding his tank undershirt off of him, so she could get closer to his warm skin below. She felt his stomach muscles tighten from the beginning of this sensual assault.
He thought he'd ask her a ridiculous question, "do you want to see these numbers or not?"
"Not right now," she murmured as her lips began to lazily flit across his muscular back.
"I didn't think so," he said turning around to face her and gathering her closely in his arms.
"You know, I'm getting so used to waking up next to you, that when you're not there, I get very lonely," Rita said, now dancing her lips and tongue across his chest.
"I, uh, um, uh, I, I, can definitely relate to that," Chris said stumbling over the words, trying to listen to her, while becoming highly aroused. Chris closed his eyes and ran his fingers through her hair as her touch continued to mesmerize him. She could feel his breath on the top of her head. This closeness with him sent a powerful charge throughout her body, every nerve ending tingled from his touch. He came to his senses long enough to play with her some more. Pulling apart slightly and looking at her, he carefully brushed some strands of hair off her face now, giving her a seductive grin,
"You know, Sam, we really don't have time for this, I mean we should check out all those places on your list."
"We're not going to look for a loft anymore, remember? I'll have to start a new list of houses now," she smiled coyly, looking directly into his eyes. That all-knowing, seductive look of hers had him now, his was completely lost to her, and he slowly reached down and cupped her face in his hands and intensely kissed her. Rita overtook control in the kiss thrusting her tongue deeply into his mouth. He gasped for air. Then slowly his hands moved lower, delicately and lightly, down from her face, cheeks, neck and then onto her shoulders. He slid off the robe she was wearing, it revealed her in all her splendor. He ran his hands up and down her arms, and then down her body. He picked her up and gently set her on the counter in front of him. Instantly, he began to kiss her now, beginning at her forehead with a tender, gentle kiss, then lower, brushing her eyelids, cheeks and nose and then pausing again for a satisfying deep kiss as their mouths met again.
Continuing his passionate journey he wandered over her chin, down onto her neck and behind her ear, then lower still to her shoulder, then across and over to the other side for a repeat performance. His mouth went everywhere on her body, while his hands tenderly caressed her breasts, moving along to the flat of her stomach, then lower to her inner thighs, she trembled and grew warm from his touch. He continued kissing each wonderful place on her body that he could find, slowly rising back up, along her stomach, her breasts, her neck and then fastening again to her mouth. She anxiously sought him out as well. She wrapped her legs around him, to keep him close. As he felt this, he carefully picked her back up and lovingly spun her around the room, while they were locked in an intense kiss. Rita released her legs and felt her feet touch the floor. She pushed Chris backwards directly into a chair, he reached back momentarily and felt for it as he sat down, taking Rita upon his lap. Now it was her turn. She kissed him deeply, searching for his very soul. These first intense minutes were always the same, Rita never seemed to be able to get close enough to him. She ached for every inch of him.
First there was his incredibly handsome face. From the first time she saw him across the police department parking lot, he simply overwhelmed her with his looks. The centerpiece, being those gorgeous blue eyes, bluer than any sky, clearer than any ocean and more honest and loving than anyone she had ever known. Now they looked at her with boyish fascination, as she pulled back momentarily to gaze into their depths. He tilted his head slightly and smiled at her, small at first, then breaking into a grin, the grin she absolutely got weak from. He wore his happiness here, for the world to see. His grin was infectious and it not only lit up his entire face, but those around him as well when he turned it on. Her hand reached up and she began to trace the outline of his lips, and he softly kissed and tasted her fingers as she dipped them inside his mouth. She slowly swept her hand down his off of his mouth and leaned in with her own mouth, to feast on that grin herself. Her hand continued trailing down, over his chin, tenderly on his smoothly shaven skin. Now her other hand came up as she lovingly rubbed his solid shoulders in unison. She felt his hands wrap around her back, gently brushing up and down. Then one of his hands meandered upward into her hair, tenderly grabbing the back of her head, leaning it back, easily exposing her neck. His mouth fell away from hers and wandered to the side of her throat, then up behind her ear, causing her to exhale, shyly smile and softly let out a airy laugh. Oh, he did know how to make her happy. His other hand now joined in caressing her face and along the other side of her throat. Her hands now moved down from his shoulders onto his chest, up and down she massaged him, while thoroughly enjoying the sensation he was giving her in return.
Now she needed more. She leaned her head back down onto his chest, letting her mouth place feathery kisses from nipple to nipple across his warm, energized body. He leaned his head back and let himself enjoy the soothing touch she sought to give to him. Soft at first, brushing her nose and lips against his firm, muscular chest, to and fro, then she began to nibble and tease him with her tongue and teeth and finally she gently began to suckle on his nipples. He let out a quiet, fulfilling groan. First one, then onto the other, she left a moist path between them as her satiny fingertips took over massaging where her mouth had just been. This was one of her favorite places to be. Now Chris continued running his lips and tongue between her shoulder blade and neck, tasting the salty skin that was beginning to overheat. Neither one ready to loose hold to the other's loving touch. Chris' hand now reached lower and sought out one of her breasts again. As he began to stroke it, he felt her already hardened nipple and heard Rita let out a satisfied moan. His other hand followed to her other breast. This sensation she felt was now beyond her control. The fire inside her roared with delight. She released her mouth from him and tipped her head back and arched her back, giving in to the emotion he delivered right through the very core of her body. He looked up at her face as she did this, never stopping his intimate caress, he ran one of his hands between her breasts, down onto her stomach, then back up again, while the other continued to dance upon her breasts, back and forth. Rita was in heaven, what started out as a show of love for him, was quickly turning in to him pleasing her. Somehow she knew he didn't mind.
Chris watched his amazing partner. She always knew or could sense exactly what he needed and when he needed it. And she had a body that he, in one word, worshiped. The things she could do to him and his emotions were beyond words. She now resided in his very soul. He watched her face closely, as he delicately ran his hands up and down, over her breasts and onto the flat of her stomach. She had her eyes closed and had thrown her head back almost seeming to welcome him to come in for more. He was more than happy to comply to this request. He eased his head in toward her and with one hand he reached around to her back and carefully brought her back closer to him. As he did this, his mouth sought out one of her breasts. Rita gasped in total pleasure. He lightly kissed all around it, teasing her first, fueling the fire that was already burning and then finally he began to lick and feast on her rosy nipple. First one, then the other. Rita arms tightened around his back and her breathing intensified. She was more than ready for him now as she placed frenzied kisses on the top of his head. She called out his name in an compelling tone, "Chris." She began to shift her body on his, waiting for him at first, then she helped guide him inside. His hands released her breasts and found their way to her hips and thighs, gripping and rubbing them. His mouth sought out hers and she gladly accepted it. Now joined, they found their distinctive rhythm. They remained together, wrapped tightly against each other.
Chris lightly ran his fingers through her hair and down along her back and quietly said, "I love you, Sam."
She tenderly kissed his shoulder, still unable to move herself and not wanting to break apart from him anyway. Slowly, she lifted her head and sought out his face, first nuzzling nose to nose with him, then softly seeking out his lips for another passionate kiss. "I love you too," she breathed.
With the morning now lost to a most wonderful cause, they lay entwined in each others arms on the sofa contemplating the rest of the day. "I think we could pick out a couple of houses out of the paper and go and take a look. I mean we don't have to buy anything right away today, but we did say we were going to look today anyway," Chris began.
Rita softly smiled, " are you sure you want to?"
"Yeah I'm sure," he said confidently, turning her face so that she could look into his clear blue eyes, "aren't you?"
She kissed him tenderly and nodded, "yeah, I am too."
He smiled first, giving way to a grin, "Or we could just stay here and enjoy the rest of the weekend like we enjoyed this morning," he added.
She tossed her head to the side to see him playing with her, "we could, but what about the Jazz Festival and seeing Howie?"
"Are you trying to avoid me gal?" he asked.
"What do you think?" she murmured as she slowly turned over to face him and began running kisses up and down him again...
They decided to look at three houses. One that Rita picked out, one that Chris picked out and one that they picked out together. First up was the house that Chris picked. It was the farthest away from Ocean Park, so they figured they'd work their way back towards the Festival. From the outside it looked really good, it was a two story, stucco house. It was huge. The square footage space was close to 2600. The landscaping in front was very nice, and the back yard was completely fenced in and provided lots of privacy. It also had a cedar deck in the back. From the outside this house was great. The inside, they soon found out, was even better. The rooms were oversized and spacious. The living area had a high ceiling with a loft area overlooking it. Three bedrooms were upstairs in the loft area, the master suite was downstairs. There were two full bathrooms and one half bath. The kitchen & dinning area were just off the living room and off of the dinning area was a great room with the outside deck. Off the "cooking lover's" kitchen was a pantry/laundry room. A 2 & 1/2 car garage completed the picture. "Wow," was the first word out of Chris' mouth as they finished their tour.
"I gotta tell ya Sam, you have great taste, this house is spectacular!" Rita exclaimed. Chris was busy reading through the flyer that was being distributed by a realtor. Rita looked over his shoulder and started reading some of the info too. "Ok, so this house was built in 1984, all oak cabinetry, hand made, it's absolutely gorgeous" she continued, "the original owner drew up the plans himself, hmmm." "Let's cut to the chase Sammy," Chris said, "I think I misread the fine print in the paper," he said as he flipped the sheet over, "I believe I missed a zero. It's a little out of our price range."
She shrugged it off and stated, "It's still fun to look," as she continued on through the various rooms, having the time of her life. He shook his head in wonder at her bubbling enthusiasm, how could not being able to afford something still be fun to look at. Women and shopping, he'd never understand that concept.
The second house, the one they picked out together, was a complete disaster. The exterior was a mess, it needed paint, water, soap, a hammer and nails and about a million other things as well. They contemplated just driving right on by, but they decided to take a look at the inside as well. That was another mistake. The interior needed more work than the exterior, if that was possible. It was as if no one had lived in this house for decades. It even smelled bad. They quickly left for the final house.
Rita's choice was next. This house was about two blocks away from the beach on Leigh Avenue. The middle class neighborhood was quiet and quaint, and unusually well located in the city of Palm Beach. Homes this close to the ocean generally belonged to people with names like Gates, Trump and Rockefeller and ran into the millions, however this particular section of town was older, well maintained and was definitely geared to more moderate prices. The homes were smaller, affordable structures. Often times these homes had passed from generation to generation, so as to maintain the middle class legacy somewhat in this ultra luxurious town. Most of the houses around here had been built in the 1920's. Some were tiny and efficient, others had a definite warmth and charm about them. The house that Rita had spotted in the paper was now in front of them. It was a typical home for South Florida. A one-story ranch, cream colored stucco, with an orange-hued Spanish tile roof. This home definitely had warmth and charm. Chris pulled up in front and looked to Rita with a face of unexpected surprise. She was busy glancing over her list and notes she had started keeping and didn't notice his stare. He cleared his throat and finally she looked up at him, noticing that he had stopped the car. "This is it," Chris said raising his eyebrows and signaling that it was time to get out and look at the home.
As they walked up the sidewalk Rita asked him, "First impression?"
Chris grinned at her zeal for house shopping. "I think I like it, what about choo?" he asked back.
"I like it too, but I'm almost afraid to look inside though."
"Think, we missed another zero, Sammy?" he began with a laugh.
"That would be our luck wouldn't it," she answered.
A pleasant woman of about 40 greeted them at the door and introduced herself as Marcia Thompson, the realtor. No one else was in the house except for the three of them. Marcia started by giving them a quick tour. The house had already been moved out of by the previous owners, so the rooms were bare. You definitely had to use your imagination with this place. Rita had no problem envisioning things, her mind was going 240 by this time. After the tour, the realtor told them to take their time and look around some more, she was going to head outside, to the backyard to work on some paperwork. She'd be happy to answer any questions that they had. Chris stood in what would be considered the living room, checking some spots on the walls and carefully looking at the windows. Rita, positioned herself at the center of the room, slowly turning 180 degrees, soaking up whatever she possibly could. Chris watched her closely and observed all this from near the windows. "You hate it, don't you?" he said sarcastically trying to break her deep thoughts.
She finished circling around to face where he stood, and broke out into a huge smile of her own. "Not exactly," she replied.
"Ok, so you like it better than the last house, right?" he continued to play. She nodded. "And not as much as the first house," he added.
"The first house is out, because there is no way we could afford it on two cops salaries, remember?" she answered.
"Ah, yeah, there was that missing zero as I recall. It still was a great house, at least admit that!" he said.
"Yes it was, but," she started.
"But what," he wanted to know.
She exhaled deeply, "this house has real charm, don't you think?"
Chris grinned, "You're big on charm aren't you?"
"I fell for yours didn't I?" she responded.
"Yes you did. It must be some kind of divine sign then, huh? That's what you're thinking now, isn't it," he answered back.
She shook her head in dismay at his playfulness and decided to turn it on him. "Well what do you think?"
"I told you, I liked the first one," he said breaking into a grin.
"Yeah, well, you're just saying that, cuz you picked it out and now you're afraid that mine's a better fit for us, and because of that in a sense, you lost," she said in her own defense.
"Do you really think I'm that competitive?" he asked pointing to his chest and laughing.
"In this case, yes, I do think you are that competitive," she answered.
He walked over to her and hugged her. "This isn't a game, I like it too," he whispered seriously into her ear. She closed her eyes and smiled, just enjoying this special moment.
Inside the home were three lovely bedrooms, a nice sized living room with a high ceiling overlooking Leigh Avenue. The front yard was landscaped rather nicely. The grass ran right to the street, there was no sidewalk in front. Three large palm trees offered the living room afternoon shade and breeze from the often hot Florida sunshine. The windows throughout the home were of French-New Orleans style. Deep brown shudders framed them. The front doors were double and arched in this same style too as were two additional back doors off the kitchen that led to a small cement patio and the backyard. The kitchen was attractive too, with a small dinning room off to the side of it. The master bedroom also had a high ceiling and it overlooked the back yard. The backyard was fenced in with red bougainvillea flower bushes lining the fence. Four more palm trees were scattered in the small sized back yard. Knowing that love at first sight existed, Rita and Chris had both fallen hard for this 'parfait' home.
They broke apart, each heading in opposite directions and continued to carefully look over the house, room by room, discussing the good and bad points they noticed. "It definitely needs some paint," Chris said wandering in and out of the 3 bedrooms. "The walls need some patching too, but it's really in pretty good shape. I haven't seen any cracks yet, I can handle the cosmetic stuff," he explained.
"I love these curved archways," Rita said tracing the frame as she headed back into the living room.
Chris followed close behind her, "The bathroom's kinda small, don't ya think?"
"It has all the essentials Chris, what else do you want?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe some gold plated fixtures and a his and her whirlpool."
"As I recall that was in house number one, which we can't afford," she said
"Yeah, you're right," he answered.
"I guess we need to go talk to Marcia," she began.
"Uh, wait, hold up a sec, let's just promise not to jump in too deep ok, I mean, this is a big step," he said grabbing hold of her arm.
"What are you saying Chris?" Rita asked.
"I'm saying, we should probably get the house inspected, you know like for electricity and plumbing problems, roof leaks, you know, stuff like that, let's not get crazy and sign any papers today ok?."
"Are you sure that's it?" she questioned again his sudden trepidation.
He nodded, "Yeah, whatta ya think I meant?"
"I just thought," her voice trailed off as Chris realized she was thinking he was backing out of the whole relationship thing.
He reached for her hands and squeezed them in his own, "Sam, I want to do this. All I'm saying is let's make sure that it's the house we want and that it's not a lemon."
She looked at him and smiled. "You're right, we'll do this the right way."
They went outside to the backyard and saw Marcia sitting on a picnic table doing paperwork. She glanced up at them as they approached. "So, what do you think?" she asked.
Chris and Rita looked at each other, then Rita started to talk, "Our first impression is good, we both like the house."
"Oh, I'm glad," Marcia began, "Why don't you sit down and we can chat for awhile." They both sat down. "May I ask what you both do for a living?"
"We're police officers, homicide detectives," Rita said.
"What interesting work!" Marcia replied.
"It can be," Rita answered.
"Are you married?" Marcia asked.
Chris glanced at Rita and reached for her hand, then quickly answered, "Not yet, but soon," he said quietly smiling at Rita. She squeezed his hand back in return.
"Well, have you two gone for a mortgage pre-approval yet?"
"No we haven't," Chris chimed in, looking back at Marcia, "Is that required?"
"Not exactly. But a lot of people go with pre-approval now, it helps them know ahead of time what they can and can't afford," Marcia explained.
Chris and Rita looked at each other. "This is actually only the third house we've looked at and today is the first day we started to look. It's all pretty new to us," Rita offered.
"It's no problem, if you're interested in this house, we can help you out, get you started and point you in the direction you need to go," Marcia said.
"How long does this pre-approval process take?" Chris asked,
"And what if the house gets sold to someone else in the meantime," Rita added.
Marica chuckled at their oneness. "Pre-approval can take as little as 20 minutes, if you have the necessary documentation, and if this house gets sold, I'm sure I can find another one that you'll love too, that's my job."
"So where do we go from here?" Chris asked.
"I suggest that you visit with a mortgage company or a bank and give them the information they need for pre-approval, you know, income statements, debts, other loans, credit, etc., and they'll go through the paperwork with you step by step, so you both understand. It's very painless," she added with a laugh, "and when you get done, you'll be able to know exactly what you can afford. It makes buying a house very easy."
"Would it be possible to have this home inspected?" Chris asked.
"Certainly, but I'd still go through the pre-approval first and make sure the home is still on the market, inspection fees can run a few hundred dollars," Marica explained.
Rita turned to Chris, "we've got a lot to learn, don't we?" Chris nodded.
"So you really like this house?" Marcia had to ask.
"Yeah, we do," Rita said.
"Well, we'll get started on the pre-approval, just don't sell this place to anyone else ok Marcia?" Chris asked.
"I'll see what I can do," she answered with a smile. Chris walked back into the house for another close look while Rita continued to talk with Marcia.
After chatting with Marcia for a little while longer, Rita found Chris inside and together they headed out towards Rita's LeBaron. Rita turned around and looked longingly at the front of the house. Chris stopped in his tracks and went back towards her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get on this first thing Monday morning. We'll ask Cap for the morning off, and if he says no, well, we'll just both call in sick." Rita didn't respond to him at all. He squeezed her shoulder and pressed her closer to himself. "Hey, Sammy, come on, no one is going buy it till Monday anyway, all the financial institutions are closed, lets go to the festival."
She turned her face to see him grinning away at her. "You're right, let's go," she said walking arm in arm with him towards the car, "no one better buy this house, it's gonna be ours, I can feel it."
Driving along the ocean road towards the festival, they chatted about the house, or as they had begun to refer to it, THEIR house in greater detail. "What did you think of the kitchen?" Rita asked.
"I think it'll be the cleanest room in the house, seeing as how it will hardly ever get used."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.
"Are you telling me you're gonna start cooking now?" he asked glancing over at her, while trying to watch the road.
"I can cook, and you can too, it'll get used," she said in defense, "what I meant was, do you think it's big enough."
"Yeah, sure, I mean it's bigger than the kitchen's at my place or your place now, and they're big enough," he answered.
She nodded in agreement, "Yep, you're right," she paused, "and how about that carpeting in the living room? What was that from 1974? Who has gold shag anymore?" she said with a laugh.
"I can't believe they ever made it in the first place," he said laughing, "that will be the first thing to go, ok?"
"Deal," she replied emphatically. They drove along in silence for a moment. "I like the neighborhood too," Rita began, "it's so close to the beach, that'll be nice, don't you think?"
"Yeah, that's great," he paused, "and I think Washington School is pretty near too," he said, then stopped abruptly not wanting to take his thought any further just yet. It was too late, Rita quickly turned her head and waited for him to continue. He stumbled saying, "Well, I just meant, that uh, well, you know, I can go over there and shoot hoops or whatever."
"Yeah, right, I think the 'or whatever' part is where you were really going Sam, care to explain?" Rita teased.
He smiled and wiped the perspiration forming on the top of his lip, keeping one hand on the wheel, he was about to tread in some deep water here. "Ok, I know I'm getting a little ahead of things, but don't you think about it too?" he asked, avoiding saying the C word directly.
"Don't I think about what?" she questioned teasingly wanting him to say it first.
This was making him crazy, she knew exactly what he was talking about. "About you and me," he lowered his voice to a decibel just above a whisper, "having a child together." There it was out, he said it. He sighed deeply, and without turning his head, his eyes darted over to see any hint of anything coming from her. She looked straight ahead with no expression at first, then a suggestion of a smile came to her face. He caught it out of the corner of his eye. "Well?" he asked.
"I've thought about being a mom, it's kinda scary, but yeah, I'd like it, especially knowing that you'd be the dad." He smiled and quickly looked at her and reached over and pressed her hand into his.
They drove along in silence for awhile, then Rita began to speak. "Did you really mean what you said to Marcia?"
Chris looked at her, not understanding at first what she was talking about. "What I meant about what?" he asked in return.
Rita swallowed hard and decided to go ahead with her thought, "about us getting married," she paused then added, "soon?"
Chris glanced over at her and didn't respond at first. He shook his head slightly and kept driving a little farther. Rita didn't know how to proceed, his silence puzzled her and just as she was about to start talking again, Chris pulled the car over to a small parking area that overlooked a fairly deserted beach area. He stopped the motor and motioned for her to get out. "Come on, let's take a walk," he said.
He waited for her to come around the car and grabbed her hand and held it tightly in his own as they strolled down the beach together. "I meant every word of it," he finally answered.
Rita put her head down and shook it in a little frustration. "How can you be so sure?" she asked.
"How can you be so not sure," he fired back. It was the same conversation again, it kept coming up time again and again, he was so sure, she had doubts. "If you're willing to get a house together, and spend $149,000 with me, I guess I mean, well it's the next step, isn't it?" he asked her slightly confused.
"I guess," she said softly.
"Why else would two people choose to live together, to buy a home together, if they weren't willing to get married?" he questioned her again.
"You know I love you," she answered.
"Then prove it," he quickly blurted out. Rita started to pull away from him. Chris stopped her from walking away and turned so that they were face to face and he grabbed both of her hands in his. "Look Sam, I don't mean to scare you by saying it and I don't want to pressure you, but I know what's in my heart," he said raising their hands together and holding them over his chest. "It's overflowing with love for you and only you. I want to show it to you by marrying you. You're all I will ever want or need. And right now, all I can do is keep telling you over and over that you and I are meant to be," he implored to her. Rita tried to interrupt "but Chris..."He shook his head and put a finger to her lips to stop her from saying anything. "No buts for me Rita, I don't want to be just your friend anymore, I want more, I want you to be my wife. I won't settle for anything less." He dropped her hands, walked a few steps from her and turned and faced the ocean, looking away from her.
She came and stood next to him. "Are ya mad," she asked.
He shook his head no and without looking at her said, "We've been over this, I don't get mad about it anymore Rita, you need to make up your mind, I already have."
She sighed heavily, "there are some days when I come down to the beach and I look out at the ocean and it's so clear, so blue, like you can see forever, you know? I love it like that." She began to say Chris kept looking straight out. She glanced at him, at his unresponsiveness and then looked back at the ocean too and continued, "then there are days when it's hazy or foggy, kind of like today, and you're just not sure what's out there." She stopped talking. "I'm seeing this kind of hazy right now Chris, do you understand, I need to see it clear." Chris was taken aback by her explanation. He wanted to understand her and what exactly she needed, why she was so reluctant? But he just couldn't. Maybe he'd never fully understand her past and how it would always affect her.
She put her head down in despair, how else could she tell him, they'd been over this so many times, maybe she was just being scared like he said, she thought. Getting too close to people, loving them too much, then having it all end the same way, her being alone, would that feeling ever end? Was taking the risk of love always doomed for her. She'd never know if she didn't try again, but having lost so many times already, god, it was just too hard. But she loved him so much. How could she make him understand? Why couldn't she see things from his point of view, that he wanted, no needed to be married and have a family so badly that it ached him deeply.
His heart and soul yearned for them to be husband and wife. Why was she so afraid to risk loving him and spending the rest of their lives together? He'd never felt for anyone, what he felt for Rita. Now after all these years, growing up, becoming a man, he realized what he so desperately longed for; a wife, a family something he could call his own, something he never had. How could he make her understand? Why couldn't he understand her past like she had tried to explain to him over and over.
He turned back to her and saw her head down. His right hand reached under her chin and he raised it so she was looking right at him, when she did, he smiled. "I will wait forever if I have to, I'm not going anywhere, I'm never leaving you and I'm never gonna let you leave me. We are meant to be together. I know that and if I have to wait for you to know that, to see it clear and not hazy, I will. You are stuck with me," he said pulling her into a hug. "Forever's not long enough to love you like I want to, Rita Lee Lance," he said, "I love you so much."
"I love you, Christopher Lorenzo," she answered back.
It was about 4:45pm when they arrived at Ocean Front Park, banners blew over them, welcoming one and all to the Jazz Festival. They walked up to the ticket booth together and Chris purchased two tickets for them. "Have you ever been to one of these?" Chris asked her as they went through the turnstile.
"It's been a long time. I was probably at the first one, back in high school," she answered.
"Last years was fantastic, I think you were in Sanibel for the weekend, so I came down here alone and just listened to music for like 16 hours straight," he explained.
"Must have been fun," she said sarcastically.
He smirked at her comment. "It was," he began, "of course it would have been better if you had been here, but I believe you needed to get away and clear your head of let's see, what was his name? uh, Eric, I think, " he said raising a finger to his lip and tapping it.
She glared at him and responded, "Yeah, well, as I recall, being alone was your trademark at the time. You were such a bear, you needed to rid yourself of Jillian's memory and put her out of your life," she said dramatically.
"Ok, truce, right here, right now, that part of our life is definitely over, agreed?" he asked.
She exhaled and said, "Agreed."
"I'm getting kind of hungry, what about you?" Chris asked rubbing his stomach, "let's find something to eat before we go see Howie's set ok?"
"Sure, let's do it, what are you hungry for?" she asked him.
"Oh, a little bit of everything I guess, there's so much to choose from and so little time," he said putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. They walked up and down the park, looking at the different vendors, some had food, some had souvenirs, while others offered crafts, and others soulfully belted out variations of jazz on ancient instruments. They stopped along the way and looked over the exhibits and enjoyed some music.
"So far you've voted for pizza, hot dogs, sausage, barbecue beef sandwiches, gyros, and chili, what's it gonna be Sam?" Rita asked rubbing his stomach while starting to get a little hungry herself.
"All of the above," he smugly replied.
"Oh god, I need an antacid, you really aren't going to eat everything are you?" she added.
"Sammy, this festival only happens once a year, I need to enjoy it to the fullest. I would be remiss, nay I would be exiled somewhere if I did not partake of everything the Jazz Festival had to offer me," he said with a flourish.
"Spare me," Rita said rolling her eyes at him, "I'm going for pizza," she added.
"Sounds like a good place to start," he said following close behind her.
The pizza line was incredibly long, so they began to wait. The sounds and smells of a great summer day drifted around them. From the smell of barbecue to the rhythmic beat of a nearby Jamaican Jazz ensemble, they both soaked in all the flavor. Rita stood in front of Chris in line, her back to his front and he carefully reached around her waist with his hands. He pulled her close, leaning his chest into her back, he rested his head on her shoulder, softly nuzzled her neck and began to move them both to the cheerful cadence. As they danced together, someone shouted from behind them. "Hey Lorenzo, this is a public place, keep your hands off the lady ok?" Chris and Rita quickly stopped and turned around to place a person with the voice. It was Treveon Thomas from Vice. He cautiously slipped in between people and came up to them. Chris held out his hand, "Hey Tre, what's up man?"
" I'm alright Chris," Tre said returning the handshake, "hey Rita, I didn't know you two were into this, I could've given you some free tickets, my uncle runs this thing," Treveon explained.
"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, we actually both are officially off duty this weekend," Rita explained.
"And you came down here with this hound?" he asked her jokingly.
"Yeah, well, I have him on a short leash," she retorted.
Treveon let out a howl, "Man, she got you bad," and to Rita, "it's nice to see someone finally keeping this guy in line."
"I think we both do that for each other," Rita said, sliding her hand along Chris' cheek. Chris smiled back at her.
"You here alone, or what Tre?" Chris asked.
"No, actually, my date spotted you, we thought you might want to join us?" he asked.
"Who are you here with?" Chris asked looking around, but spotted no one familiar.
"Diana," Tre said, "you know from the Coroner's office."
Chris and Rita both looked at each other and then at Tre, then Rita spoke, "So when did this start?"
"A couple of weeks ago, things are looking pretty good I think and by the way, thanks Rita," he added softly. Chris stared at her in disbelief. She shrugged it off and searched around looking for Diana. Treveon pointed her out, sitting at a picnic table, furiously waving at the three of them. They waved back and told Treveon they'd be glad to join them as soon as they got their food.
Treveon went back and sat next to Diana, while Rita and Chris continued to wait in the pizza line. Rita went back to standing in front of him, her back to his front, but it didn't stay that way for long, Chris spun her around so they were face to face. "Alright, what gives?" he started.
She looked at him with an 'I don't know what you're talking about' look.
"Uh, uh, no way, don't look at me like that, you know exactly what I want to know," he continued.
"I have no clue," she replied.
"Yeah, sure, so how exactly did Diana meet Tre?" he asked bluntly.
"We all work in the same building Chris, maybe they bumped into each other or something," Rita tried to explain.
"I don't think so, see I think someone helped out a little," he said in a very official sounding voice.
"Is that so, detective?" Rita asked, "care to explain your theory?"
He nodded. "Ok, we know that Tre works Vice, that's 2nd floor, right?" he paused waiting for Rita's approval to continue. She gave it. "We also know that the Coroner's office is in the basement of the admin wing right?" Rita nodded again. "Homicide is 4th floor, same building as Vice."
Rita now began to look a little bored with his reasoning. "Is this going somewhere Sergeant?"
"Hold on, hold on. In order to get from 2nd floor in our wing to the Coroner's office, you actually have to go up to 7th floor and then over to the admin wing and then down to the ground level, right?"
"It's not impossible, though," she added.
"Yeah, but how often does Vice need to work with the coroner, once the body is dead it becomes homicide and that my friend is us, remember?"
"All to well," she answered, "but your point is weak, it's not impossible."
"Ok fine, tell me I'm wrong, but why would he thank you then?"
Rita turned around not to face him. "We're almost there, what do you want on your pizza?" she asked.
"The witness is avoiding the question, it won't hold up in court," Chris said as he bent down and said it softly into her ear.
She smiled but wouldn't turn around, "Did you say sausage or pepperoni?"
They got their pizza and four beers and head over to the picnic table. "Hope you guys like sausage," Chris started.
"It looks good," Tre said.
"Hey Rita, hey Chris, I can't believe I spotted you guys, can you believe all these people?" Diana began.
Rita sat down across from Diana, as Chris passed out the cups of beer. "It's a great day to be down here, plus the music is legendary I hear," Rita said throwing a look at Chris.
"Did you guys just get here?" Chris asked Tre and Diana.
"No, actually we've been here all afternoon, listening to my uncle's band, he's so into jazz," Tre explained and added, "we thought we'd catch a quick dinner and head out, what about you guys?"
"We've only been here for about a half hour, there's a band playing at 6, that Chris knows, so we're going to try and see that," Rita explained.
"So how did you two manage to both be off duty?" Diana wondered.
"We're not really sure, but Harry offered to be on call this weekend, so we weren't going to argue," Rita said with a laugh.
"Yeah, sometimes it can be a pain, crime never takes a day off," Tre said pointing to his beeper.
Chris and Tre started to chat across the picnic table, while Rita and Diana did the same. "That was good work on the Donner case, Tre," Chris began, "I heard you guys were undercover for what, nearly four months."
"Yeah, it can really wreck your social life," he said motioning to Diana, who was engrossed in deep conversation with Rita by now, "you know, hanging out with slugs like that for so long can kinda trash you personally. The afternoon we arrested him, I went home and took like a six hour shower," Tre said laughing.
"Don't I know it, I only worked vice for 8 months, that was long enough," Chris said.
"Yeah, but don't you miss the thrill, the adrenaline rush?" Tre asked seriously.
Chris had his head down, taking a bite out of the pizza, he looked up chewing and laughingly choked out, "No way man, are you kidding, I don't miss that at all, having people holding guns to your head, not being able to sleep, the drugs, the undercover work that never seems to end, uh no I like homicide just fine. 'Sides I got too much to live for now, my slummin' days are over," Chris said throwing a glance at Rita who had heard a little of what he had just said. Tre didn't say anything, he just nodded, he could see that Chris was serious and Tre loved the chaos, the danger, being on the edge. That was his life.
Sitting inches from them, Rita and Diana were now off in a completely different direction of conversation. "Soooooooo," Rita began in almost a whisper.
Diana's face lit up. "It's been great, I can't believe being fixed up is actually working," Diana said.
"How's long's it been now?" Rita asked.
"Nearly two weeks, and we've gone out just about every night," Diana explained.
"Well, you look very happy," Rita said.
"Oh I am girl, believe me I am, and we both have you to thank," Diana said. Rita quickly put a finger to her lips, but it was too late. Chris and Tre had stopped talking and Chris had heard everything.
"So why do you both need to thank Rita?" he asked with a grin.
Diana looked to Rita for an answer, but wasn't getting one. "Well, she helped us study for the cities CPR recertification class," Diana stumbled her way through.
Chris shook his head at Rita, "I'm not buying any of this, she introduced you right? She fixed you up?" he said grinning away.
"Yeah, man, she did and I'm glad she did," Tre said with a smile of his own as he turned and gave Diana a kiss.
"Are you happy now?" Rita asked Chris.
"Absolutely, absolutely," Chris replied with a smirk of his own.
Meanwhile over at another picnic table a young family sat huddled together. The man and woman appeared to be in the midst of some kind of disagreement. A young boy sat closely to the woman, trying to close his eyes and sleep against her body, but every time the discussion started to heat up, the boy groggily would open his eyes and stare sadly at what appeared to be his mother and father. Chris noticed them out of the corner of his eye.
The four of them finished eating, got up and started walking around the festival grounds together. "So you guys want to come and see this group with us for awhile?" Chris asked Tre and Diana.
Tre looked at Diana, shrugged and said, "It's up to you, would you like to stay a little longer?"
"Sure, we can do it, we didn't have any real definite plans anyway," she answered.
"Ok, let's go, what stage are we heading too?" Rita asked, busily looking over a brochure with all the groups, dates and times, trying to figure out where they needed to go. "What's the name of Howie's band Chris?" she said looking up and down.
Chris pointed to it in the brochure, "right there, they're on the Pepsi stage, it's down here near the old civil defense building."
"The name of their band is 'John Doe'?" Rita asked with a chuckle, "what is that about?"
"They're all a bunch of no names, so they decided that 'John Doe' was a perfect name for their group. I kinda like it," Chris said with a grin. They all laughed and began to walk towards the stage. Out of earshot of Tre and Diana, Chris began to talk to Rita. "So, now you're playing matchmaker huh?"
She grinned, "Yeah, I thought it was worth a try, I think they make a cute couple, don't you?" she asked him.
"I think we make a cute couple," he said giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
"I think we make a cute couple too," she added.
"You know I'm glad to hear that, now you just need to take another step forward," he said.
"Are we back to what we discussed earlier today?" she wanted to know.
"Only if you say yes, otherwise, lets go check out some jazz," he answered.
"I think I hear the music starting now," she said. Rita didn't want to look at him and see his expression. Chris just shrugged it off for the time being.
The seating area was open, so the four of them found a spot and watched as the band tuned up a little and got their sound set with the engineering crew. Chris spotted Tina, Howie's wife, and excused himself momentarily to go and say 'hi.' Rita watched him walk away, she thought of the significance behind that, she had to stop letting him walk away. Diana pulled her back to reality, "So you guys look pretty happy today, what's up?"
Rita smiled warmly to her friend, "it's that noticeable, huh?"
Diana nodded, "Oh yeah, just a bit, so what is it?"
"We went house hunting today," Rita explained.
Diana's mouth dropped open in surprise, "Seriously? Wow! I thought you guys were talking about getting a downtown loft together or something?"
"Well we were, but Chris has some new ideas, he wants to get a house," Rita began to explain.
"So why I am getting the feeling like you aren't totally agreeing with his plans?" Diana questioned.
Rita pursed her lips, "It's not that, I love the idea and we already found a perfect house," she paused and took a deep breath, "I just still can't commit to what comes next. He wants to get married, and getting a house together would be the logical step to that end. I just don't know if it's right for me. And I know it's driving him crazy, it's driving me crazy. I mean, what is wrong with me? Here is this perfect guy, my best friend, now the love of my life, and what am I afraid of? My past," Rita answered her own question, "why can't I let it go? Why can't I see our future together like he does."
Diana looked at her sympathetically, "Why can't he understand the past like you?" she asked and added, "have you tried to explain how you feel to Chris?"
"I thought I have, but either I'm not doing a good job of it or he just doesn't want to understand," Rita said.
"I'm sure it'll all work out," Diana said as Chris came back and sat down beside Rita.
"Tina says hi, so what's gonna work out?" he asked plopping down beside her.
"Diana and I are, at the gym, ladies only," Rita said with a laugh.
'John Doe' began to play. Their sound was mid-tempo, light, full of horns, 2 sax's, a trumpet and a trombone, plus drums, guitar and bass. Howie had written most of the original music himself, he still had no record deal, the band was more of hobby now, he and Tina still ran the music store and they were content to do that. He really loved being up on the stage though, you could see it when he played. Chris looked at Tina out of the corner of his eye. She appeared happy. She and Howie now had a child and things were going well for them. It made him happy. He gazed towards Rita and hoped for the same, for her to be his wife and for them to have a family together.
Tre got up and excused himself to the rest rooms, while 'John Doe' picked up the pace with a faster number. Some people in the crowd began to stand and dance and cheer a little louder. Tre suddenly came back towards the three of them and leaned into Chris who was sitting on the end. "I think someone's been shot, you guys better get out here quick," he said.
They got up quickly and followed Tre out to the midway area of the festival. Tre started flashing his badge, asking for people to step aside. A security guard stood over a body of a male about 26 years of age. Chris and Rita pulled out their badges and identified themselves to the security guard, who was now getting some additional help with keeping the crowd back, from some Festival personnel. "Sgt.'s Lance and Lorenzo, Palm Beach Homicide and this is Sgt. Thomas of Vice, what happened?" Rita began.
"I'm not really sure, I didn't even hear a gun shot, it's so loud, I'm not surprised I can't hear anything at all" the guard loudly replied.
"Did anyone call an ambulance," Tre asked.
"Yeah, I sent someone to call," the guard responded.
Chris had knelt down next to the body and checked for a pulse. "We won't need an ambulance, he's already dead."
"I don't see a gunshot wound," Chris noted looking at Tre.
"Some people said they heard one, then I saw the body and I came back in for you guys, that's all I know so far," Tre responded.
Rita bent down and began to look over the body, careful not to move it. "I don't see anything either," she said, rechecking to see if the man had a pulse, "But he's gone, I don't see any blood anywhere," Rita added examining around the body.
Diana now had also bent over and was checking the body for any signs of foul play. She pulled out a pair of gloves from her purse. "His face is so pale, that usually means a great deal of blood loss," she said checking the back of the head for any type of wound.
Chris stood up and looked around the crowd. "Tre why don't you call it in, get Captain Lipschitz down here, then start interviewing some of these witnesses."
"Yeah, sure man, I follow your lead," Tre pulled out his cell phone and began making calls.
Diana pulled out the man's wallet for Rita to start looking over.
She stood back up and scanned through it, "His name is Paul Fox, 26, of West Palm and there's no money in here Sam," Rita said to Chris.
"You think robbery?" He asked back.
"I'm not sure what to think yet, what about you?"
Chris' eyes still scanned around the crowd that continued to form.
"What are you looking for," Rita asked Chris noticing that he was searching faces in the crowd.
"I just saw this guy Sam, while we were eating," he said looking at her, "he was with a woman and a kid and it looked like they were fighting, or at least having some kind of disagreement," he explained to her.
"Do you see her around here?" Rita asked him.
"I haven't spotted her yet," he answered.
"Hey guys, check this out," Diana said motioning for them to come.
"What is it D?" Chris asked kneeling back down beside the body.
"I found it, a gunshot wound, looks like a small caliber, maybe 9mm, near the back of his head, it's like it was cleaned up though, it's such a small wound," she said pointing to the area buried under the mans hair.
"How long would that bleed?" Chris asked her.
"It's hard to say, but where it's located, not really long, you'd actually get more brain stem fluid and that's almost clear. Some of that is on the ground here, I think," she said revealing a small stain.
"So someone shot him, wiped up the blood off of him and then what, just dropped him here?" Rita said not believing the scenario laid out before her.
"That's a possibility Rita," Diana said cautiously.
Chris motioned for Tre to come over to them, "Tre, lets get some teams down here to scour the area, look for any blood and any spent casings, small caliber, possibly a 9mm."
"You got it," Tre replied, "you found a gunshot?" he asked in shock.
"Not me, Diana, did," Chris said.
"Hey, she's pretty good huh?" Tre said with a smile. Chris nodded in agreement.
Diana and Rita continued to exam the body for anything else unusual. "He's not very
cold yet, no rigor either," Diana began.
"So how long ago do you think it may have happened?" Rita asked.
"I'll go out on a limb for right now and say not more than 20 minutes ago."
Rita shook her head and stood up and went over to where Chris was still scanning the crowd. He saw her come up beside him, "Anything new, Sam?" he began.
"Diana thinks it probably happened less than 20 minutes ago. No other signs of wounds or foul play. It looks like a homicide. What about you, have you spotted the mystery woman and child yet?" she asked.
"No, but you know what? I think I'm going to walk around a little, if it happened that recently, she still may be around. Tre is getting the teams in place, maybe you can talk to some witnesses and get Cap up to speed when he gets here, ok?" Chris said already heading out into the crowd.
"Yeah, sure, sounds like a plan, just be careful if you find her, she may be a murderer." Chris nodded and went off searching.
One of the security guards had found a blanket to cover up the body, until the 'on duty' police officers arrived. Seeing a dead body was beginning to make the crowd a little nervous, yet no one was really thinning out. Rita and Tre began to search out any witnesses and a few people came forward and offered some information.
"So, Mr. Malone, you think you heard a gunshot, but did you actually see anything," Rita asked the 40ish year old man?
"I was heading down this way," he said pointing. "When I think I heard the gunshot, at least that's what it sounded like, it came from behind me, back there." He said now pointing in the opposite direction, "so I turned around and saw a bunch of people scatter, some people were even getting trampled on by others just running over them. It was chaos."
"Did you see the victim?" she asked.
"Not till he was lying down there, where he's at now, but I did hear the gunshot, I think," he explained.
"Thanks Mr. Malone, we'll be in touch," Rita said.
Tre was talking with two women in their early 20's. "Yeah, well, we saw him, he had a kid with him, they went into the bathroom together and that's all we saw, he was ok then," the one explained.
"So you never saw him come out of the rest room?" Tre asked.
"No, we didn't, but we weren't really looking for him, I mean he had a kid, who's in to that?" the one doing all the talking said.
"What about you, did you see the man come out?" Tre continued to ask.
"No, she's right, he wasn't even that good looking or anything, but I did see the kid come running out, but I didn't pay attention to a five year old."
"Did you hear any gunshots?" Tre asked.
"The guy was shot?" the first woman asked in shock. "We didn't hear anything," she added.
"No nothing," the other added.
Tre thanked them and walked away and over to Rita. "Are you getting anything useful," he asked shaking his head in despair.
"Not really, what about you?" she asked in return.
"Well I've got two ladies who said they saw him go into the rest room with a kid, maybe 5. They didn't see him come out, but one says she saw the kid come running out," Tre explained.
"That kind of fits with what Chris said," Rita added. Tre looked at her for a more detailed explanation. "Chris saw this guy with a woman and a kid while we were eating pizza before. He's walking around now to see if he can spot her," she said.
"Now I know why he disappeared," Tre responded, "I still got a few more witnesses over here," then glancing off to his right, he added, "I'll let you get your Captain up to speed, that's him coming now isn't it?"
Rita looked in the direction of Tre and nodded, "Yep, that's him, I'll talk to you in a bit ok?"
"Yeah, I'll be here."
"I thought I told you to take the weekend off Lance, what are you doing here?" Cap began.
"Relax, Cap, I'm off duty, I was here for the music, believe it or not," she answered.
"So whatta we got?" he asked throwing a look at the covered body.
"A male, 26, shot once near the back of the head. We haven't found much blood yet, but Diana says where the wound is, that he would have lost more brain stem fluid anyway," she explained.
"The coroner's office is already here, that's a record," Harry said surprised.
Rita winced at her next explanation, "Actually, Diana was here at the festival too."
"Oh, so you two came together?" he said looking around the crowd.
"Not exactly," she began.
Cap looked directly at her now, with her acting so evasive. "So, what, what, are you gonna explain the whole thing here or do I have to keep getting bits and pieces of it," he growled.
She took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm here with Chris and Diana was here with Treveon Thomas, we met down here by accident."
"How convenient," Harry said with a coating of syrup, "so where is Lorenzo?" he added looking around.
"Well, Chris saw the victim with a woman and a child about 45 minutes before this all happened, so he went walking around, to see if he could spot them, thinking she may still be on the grounds."
"And what's Thomas up to?" he asked.
"Tre and I are interviewing witnesses, or potential witnesses. We've got a lot of people saying they heard or maybe saw something, but nothing solid enough yet."
Diana walked over to the two of them. "Rita, the more I'm looking at the wound I'm wondering," she started.
"What?" Rita asked.
"Well, I won't know till I get him on a table, but it could be suicide," Diana surmised.
"What does your gut tell you?" Cap asked her.
"At first I thought homicide, now, I'm not so sure, I just can't tell yet," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Let's get it figured out quick, this isn't a great place to have a murderer running around," Harry added.
"Yes sir," Diana said turning back towards the body.
Cap turned back to Rita, "Let's get back to these witnesses, whether it's murder or suicide, someone had to have seen or heard something." Rita followed him and continued to talk to more witnesses.
A stylish looking Chris Lorenzo meandered through the growing crowd. As the sun sank lower and lower more people were making their way into the festival. The evening brought the promise of bigger name, headliner bands, cooler temperatures and cold beer. That was a draw anywhere in the country and Palm Beach was no exception. Chris blended in to the crowd, wearing khaki colored walking shorts, sandals and a pale purple T-shirt. He had no blaring badge hanging from his hip to signify cop and he had also left his personal weapon at home, since he wasn't required to carry it when he was off duty. He looked a little out of place without a date, he thought, selfishly wishing he had brought Rita along. But since she didn't know who to look for anyway, she wouldn't have been much use, except to help him blend in better in the crowd.
He had covered the length of the Festival grounds and now decided to head back the other way, back towards the murder scene. This was like finding a needle in a haystack. He could miss her anywhere, she could have even walked right past him or she could be hiding out in a woman's rest room. He walked back down by the Pepsi stage where he heard an older, more familiar tune of Howie's being played by 'John Doe.' He stopped momentarily and glanced at the stage and saw Howie belting it out for all he was worth. Too bad he was missing his friend's fine performance. Just as he was going to turn and go back to the crime scene, he noticed some movement on the other side of a fenced area. He stared at what he was seeing and then began to move towards it. He saw a woman and a child sneaking under a piece of cyclone fence. The woman cautiously surveyed the area and took the child and slipped into the old civil defense building. It was her.
"Cap, I've got a guy over here who says that he was in the rest room at the same time the victim and the little boy were in there," Tre began.
"And," Cap prodded.
"He says he was in a stall, but he heard the gunshot, the little boy screamed and the man started to fall to the ground, he says he saw the body by looking out of the bottom of the stall. Then he heard the door swish open. He was afraid to come out at first, so he waited, he closed his eyes and when he came out, no one was in the bathroom."
Cap nodded at the good work that Tre had done so far, "Ok, take him over by Rita and have him tell her the same story, see if anything changes, listen closely ok?"
Tre shook his head and smiled. Diana came up to him and said, "I'm going to go in with the body, ok?"
"Yeah, it's ok, I'm gonna stay here and help out, I think I may have a witness, he's a little scared, but he might be able to tell us something. I'll call you later ok?"
"You better," she replied.
Chris decided to investigate the area himself. He figured he had the element of surprise on his side, the woman didn't know that he was looking for her. And she must have felt fairly confident that no one was watching her as she entered the abandoned building. He found the spot where they had slid under and followed it to the other side. There were no windows in the small brick building, it was designed to withstand bombs, it was built for war. Chris had never been in one of these buildings, he wasn't sure if the inside had rooms or partitions or it was just a large warehouse type space. He wondered if he should go back and get backup. It was a woman and a kid, he thought. He could handle it alone.
"Mr. Noble, if you were looking under the stall door, did you see anyone else in the bathroom besides the victim and the child," Rita questioned the man.
"I uh, no I don't think so, but I really didn't look till after I heard the shot, I suppose someone could have ran out then, between the shot and before I looked," the man explained.
"Do you know if anyone else was in there when you went in," Rita asked.
"No, I don't believe so, I think all the stalls were empty, one door was taped shut, I believe it was out of order and no one was using the urinals," he said.
"So someone may have been in the taped up stall?" Rita asked.
"Sure, it's possible," the man replied.
"Mr. Noble, show us which bathroom it is please?" Rita said, then to Tre, "let's get a team over there right away, he confirms what the two women said about our victim being in the bathroom. Maybe we'll get lucky."
"I'll get on that right away," Tre said and to Mr. Noble, "Will you come with me sir?"
Inside the abandoned building, the woman could hear some noise at the door. She picked up the child and took him into a small room. She leaned him up against the wall in a corner. He awoke from the movement at looked at her with wide eyes. In a hushed voice she said, "Sshh, don't say anything, no matter what you hear, ok, just be very quiet." The little boy nodded.
"Cap, you got anything new yet?" Rita asked walking up to him after he dismissed a witness.
"Nah, just a lot of maybes. 20,000 people down here and no one sees or hears a man get shot. This is crazy, why did I ever leave New York? It's supposed to be better down here, but it's all the same."
Rita gave him an understanding smile. "We're sending a team over to one of the rest rooms. We think it all happened, or at least it started in there," she said.
"Have you seen Lorenzo come back yet?" Cap asked her.
"No I haven't, he probably isn't willing to give up on finding her. It's going to be next to impossible with this crowd," Rita said.
Harry agreed. "I still have some more witnesses to wade through, care to join me detective," Harry asked.
"Sure," Rita replied.
"And by the way, someone called Fox's parents, and they're headed down here?" Cap began.
"Down here, why? Shouldn't they be going to the morgue?" Rita questioned.
"It had to be some rookie, first day on the job or something, he called them and told them to come down here and identify the body. So there on their way, maybe when they get here you can talk with them, see if he was suicidal or if he had anyone who wanted him dead, then have one of the officers take them downtown," Cap added.
Rita nodded, "Sure thing Cap."
Chris slowly turned the knob on the door to the building. The door easily opened, and Chris pushed it ajar enough to allow himself to get in. A small veil of light lit up a hallway area. Chris quickly closed the door behind him, not wanting to draw suspicion. The inside was completely dark now as Chris felt his way along the hall. His eyes adjusted to the blackness and he began to make out additional doorways to various rooms. He continued to slide along, scanning the rooms as best he could as he came up to them. This was going to be hard. It appeared that most of the rooms had boxes or crates stacked up in no particular order. There was really no way to tell if someone was hiding or not. He listened closely for any kind of sound or movement but heard nothing. When he got to the last room on his right, he looked inside and saw the little boy slumped against the wall in the corner. He headed over to him, knelt down beside him and saw that the boy was sleeping. Just as Chris was going to pick him up and carry him out, someone came up behind him and whacked him on the back of his head and back. Chris was sent sprawling on the floor.
"Sergeant Lance," a young, uniformed officer came up to her and began, "the parents of the Paul Fox are over here," he said pointing, "Captain Lipschitz says you wanted to question them before they go down to the morgue." Rita turned around and saw an older man and woman standing in the distance. The woman gently rubbed her eyes with a tissue. The man stood apart from the woman, offering her no comfort at all. "Thanks Shane," Rita replied as she began to walk towards the couple. "Mr. and Mrs. Fox?" Rita held out her hand as she neared them. The woman took it and sorrowfully squeezed it in return. "I'm Sergeant Lance, Palm Beach Homicide, why don't we head over here and sit down and talk for awhile." Neither one spoke, they turned and walked over to a picnic bench and sat down. By now the uniform police officers had cordoned off a large section of the Festival area. No one was nearby to hear the conversation.
"Who did this Sergeant? Who killed Paul?" the man asked point blank.
"We're not exactly sure just yet, Mr. Fox. It may actually be a suicide. We're starting an autopsy now too. I'd like to ask you both a some questions though, would that be alright?" Rita asked.
"Whatever you need Sergeant, we'll be happy to help," Mrs. Fox replied.
The little boy sat beside Chris, staring at him as he finally started coming to. His hand reached for the back of his head, he could feel a nice goose egg forming and the area felt a little damp, probably some blood too. He felt like he got hit with a two by four. He sighed heavily and tried to sit up, but he felt woozy, so he decided just to lay still for a another second or two.
"Who are you?" the little boy asked him when he saw that Chris' eyes had opened. Chris squinted his eyes closed for a moment, then opened them again and saw the little boy glaring at him.
"I'm Chris, who are you?" he asked in return. Off in another corner of the room he heard a woman's voice.
"Gregory, you get over here, get away from him right now." Chris figured it was now time to sit up and try to make some sense of what was going on. He held the back of his head and moaned as he sat up and leaned forward, pulled up his legs and put his head between his knees as a wave of dizziness set in. With his head cocked to one side and his hand rubbing the back of his head, he looked over in the darkness and saw the little boy now clinging to the woman.
"Lady, I don't know what you hit me with, but you sent me clear into next week," he said. The woman didn't reply, but then Chris heard a familiar sound, she had cocked the hammer of a gun.
"Do you know if your son had any enemies, Mr. and Mrs. Fox?" Rita began.
"Of course not," the woman said defensively. Mr. Fox turned and glared at her,
"Now how would you even know that, when was the last time you even saw him?"
Rita eyes darted back and forth from the woman back to the man. This was going to be interesting. "So, you haven't had much contact with your son Mrs. Fox?" Rita asked.
"She's had no contact with him Sergeant, I'm surprised she had him at all." Then he looked over at his wife. "Nine months must have seemed like an eternity to you, Maria." The woman turned away.
"So maybe I wasn't the world's best mother, but I've been trying lately," Maria tried to justify.
"So when was the last time you saw him Mrs. Fox?" Rita asked.
"Probably about 3 months ago, he had the little boy with him."
"What little boy?" Rita prodded along.
"Well, I'm not really sure who he belonged to, Paul brought him alone, we didn't talk very long, I just assumed it was his girlfriend's. I never asked and he never offered," Maria explained.
"How did Paul seem them?" Rita continued.
"He was happy, I was in the other room and I heard laughter coming from the kitchen. I walked in and saw them playing. I must have surprised him, because when he turned around and saw me standing there, his mood changed," she said.
"What do you mean?" Rita asked.
Maria Fox got very serious and lost any emotion, "Alan is right, Detective, my son and I have never gotten along very well. I didn't raise him, my parents did. I think Paul resented that. He was surprised to see me there that day, I imagine he didn't think that I would be there. I'm sure he just had stopped by to see find out about his grandfather. He always tried to time it so he wouldn't have to see me," Maria said sadly.
"So his behavior was not unusual?" Rita questioned.
"Not at all, Sergeant," Maria replied.
Chris saw the glint of steel ever so dimly in the darkened room. "Look lady, I got a few bucks on me, that's it, you can have if you want it. It's not worth dying for," Chris began, not wanting to let on to her yet. Chris could see that she had the gun trained right at him, he started to get up. "What's it gonna be lady?" he asked.
"Don't move, sit back down. I don't want your money, I saw you before, eating, at the park. I want to know what you want?" she asked as her gun followed Chris' every move.
Chris carefully sat back down and his hands motioned to the lady not to shoot him. "You're right, I saw you earlier over at the festival," Chris started.
"Why are you following me?" she asked.
"Why don't you put the gun down first, then we can talk," Chris tried to reason with her.
"No, everything's fine just as it is, so you better start talking Mister and tell me from the beginning," the lady replied.
"Sergeant Lance, can I see you for a moment?" Harry came up to the picnic table and touched the side of her arm.
"Sure, would you both excuse me for just a minute," Rita said rising from her seat. The Fox's nodded and Rita followed Harry about 20 feet away.
"We just got some new information from the State of Florida," Harry started.
"Yeah, what's up Cap," she asked.
"Paul Fox was married. His wife's name is Lori Nelson. And get this, Nelson has a little boy, the father is unknown," Cap explained.
"His parents didn't know he was married," Rita replied, "how long have they been married for?"
"Almost nine months," Cap answered, "so all this fits with what we've been hearing so far about a lady and a child. I wonder if Chris found the woman and kid yet?"
Rita shook her head, "Well, we've got the people lining up to fit the pieces of this crime, now we just need to find them all. There's still a lot of unanswered questions though," Rita said.
"Are you getting anything from his parents?" Cap asked her.
"Not really, but I'm just getting started with them," she said glancing over at them. They sat, unmoving and not speaking to each other.
Rita just froze, not saying anything. "Lance, what is it, what?" Cap asked her snapping her out her funk.
She shook the cobwebs from her mind, "Nothing Cap, I guess," she answered.
"Out with it Lance, whatta got?" Cap added.
"They just remind me of Chris' parents in a way, it's weird, I don't know." Cap gave her a strange look.
"Whatever, you better get back over there and finish up," he said.
"Yeah, I'll talk to ya in a bit," she said walking back towards the picnic table.
Chris sat in silence, his mind attempting to quickly think of something to say, though after being clubbed, things were a little woozy. He didn't want to tell her that he was a cop. Not yet anyway. "I'm waiting, are you gonna tell me or do I just shoot you here and now," the lady said.
Chris grabbed his throbbing head and rubbed it, "Lady, my head is killing me already, shooting me would just put me out of my misery. Besides you wouldn't do that in front of your little boy would you?" Chris said trying to turn the conversation on her.
"Who says he's my little boy?" she asked.
"It's pretty obvious, see the way he clings to you, kids don't do that to their babysitter's," Chris said thinking his line of discussion was working.
"Yeah, well, so what if he is, he's been through worse, seeing someone else die, someone he doesn't know can't be all that bad," she said sadly.
Chris saw the boy hug his mother even tighter. "He's seen someone else die?" Chris asked.
The little boy closed his eyes and laid against his mother. "Yeah, it must be genetic," she replied.
Chris looked at her puzzled. "Whatta mean?" he questioned dropping his voice.
The woman quickly turned on him. "Let's hear your story first, why did you follow me?"
Rita sat back down at the table. "Mr. and Mrs. Fox, did you know that Paul was married?" Rita began.
"So the little boy..." Maria said, her voice trailing off.
"I don't think so, we believe the little boy may a different father. So neither of you knew?" Rita asked now looking directly at Mr. Fox.
"No, Sergeant, I didn't know. I only live in Palm Beach a few months out of the year. I haven't seen Paul in over two years. I keep in touch with him by phone, on birthdays and Christmas. My sales job takes me all over the country. Since Maria and I divorced nearly 20 years ago, I just gave up on that part of my life. I really don't consider myself Paul's father. His grandfather served that role while he was able," Alan explained.
"And when you saw Paul three months ago Mrs. Fox, he didn't say anything, who his wife was or who the child belonged to?" Rita continued.
"Paul hated me Sergeant, he never told me anything about his life, I left him too, with his grandparents. My father dabbled in the stock market and made a nice life for the three of them. Then my mother got very ill, heart disease, he had to put her in a home. He and Paul lived in a small apartment, almost penniless for years. I came back from Europe and found them, bought them another house. Then my mother died and my father's got Alzheimer's now. I just lost track of Paul for a long time. I went back to Europe, I'm a painter. I kept sending my father money. Now he's in a home too, for the last two and a half months. That was the last time I saw Paul. I offered him money, he wouldn't accept it," Maria said.
"You know, I've never been in one of these old civil defense buildings. You can't hear a single thing from the outside in here, nor from the inside out there. Guess the army knew what they were doing," Chris began, making small talk while trying to think up a story line for himself. "I just wanted to see what it was like in here and yeah, I saw you come in here, so I thought I'd check it out for myself. I'm writing a book about a murder in Palm Beach, thought maybe checking out this location well, it would help, you know?" he explained making it up as he went along. "And you may even be a murderer, how lucky can I get?" he added wondering if this woman had shot her husband in front of the boy.
The woman wasn't amused. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
"Well there was a murder a little while ago, at the Festival, some guy bought it. And hey, you got a gun and you said your little boy there already saw someone die. I'm just using my imagination like any good writer would and putting two and two together and coming up with four," Chris said.
The woman became very sad and almost dropped the gun. Chris started to go towards her but she straightened up very quickly and once again aimed it right at him. "You got it all wrong," she said in a whisper.
"Mr. Fox, when was the last time you spoke to Paul on the phone?" Rita asked.
"That would have been in February, for his birthday," he said.
"And did you notice anything unusual at that time, anything in his voice, something he may have alluded to."
Alan Fox bit his lip and turned sideways and looked at the ocean for a minute.
"Mr. Fox?" Rita asked him again.
"When Paul was little, we brought him here, it was just a park then, with swings and slides, hot dog vendors, nothing like this," he said motioning to all the people and partying, "we were a regular family. Life was very good, then we started fighting, Maria and I. She wanted to paint and I had to be on the road with my job, there was just no time for Paul. No time for each other, not even time for ourselves after a while. So we got divorced. At first I called Paul every night, then once a week, then monthly, then hardly ever. He begged and cried for us to be a family again. The more he begged, the less I called. It broke my heart, part of me wanted to try again, just for him, I thought I could make it work for his sake. Instead I just stopped calling, except on holidays and the like. After years like that, I could hear how his voice changed on the phone, he wasn't that happy little boy who laughed and loved the slides but hated the swings. I could hear it in his voice. I wasn't his father any longer, I gave that up for what? A job? It wasn't worth it. I lost the best thing I could have ever had. Paul hated me, he hated Maria, for what we did to him. All he ever wanted was a family. It broke my heart Sergeant, to hear him and how he had no feeling for either of us, but I couldn't blame him, he was right, how could we do that to a little child" Alan said turning back to her with a tear in his eye.
Rita didn't respond at first, then she managed to find her voice, "I'm very sorry Mr. Fox."
Alan Fox put his head down and inconspicuously tried to wipe his eyes, then looking up at her smiled. "But I heard that happy little boy again, back in February. He didn't tell me that he was married, but I know that's what he'd always wanted, more than anything, a family. Something he could call his own, I think I always knew he'd do it someday. I knew he'd be great at it. He just wanted it so bad. And I could hear that, but my little boy couldn't share it with me or with his mother," he said glancing at his wife, who now was crying too. "I wondered then if he had found someone, if he had a family, and now I know he did. My little boy was happy, he had his dream, that's all that mattered."
"So tell me how I've got it wrong then?" Chris asked the woman.
"I didn't kill anyone, I wanted to kill myself," she said staring at Chris.
Chris looked at her not understanding, with a puzzled look on his face, "that's kind of hard to believe when you're holding a gun on me and you're hiding out in here and there's a dead guy out there."
"You can believe anything you want to believe, you writers are all like that, you change everything around and make things come out the way you want them too. When you feel like a happy ending you make one up and if you don't, well then you write some horror," she said.
"Then why don't you tell me your story and I'll write it up just like you tell me," Chris said trying to get her to talk.
The woman stood up, still pointing the gun at Chris. The little boy was asleep now, he didn't stir. "Did you see the dead body at the festival, before you came in here?" she asked.
"Yeah, I heard the commotion, and a crowd was forming, I knew something was going on, then I heard someone say that a guy was shot," Chris answered as his eyes watched her pace back and forth.
"That was my husband, Paul. He shot himself in front of Gregory," she said with no emotion in her voice.
Chris put his head down, "I'm sorry," he said quietly. He wondered if she was making that up, he knew that Diana had said it was probably a homicide from the angle of entry. But he needed to have her tell him her story.
She shook her head in defiance to his comment. "NO, you don't need to be SORRY," she punctuated. "See like I said before, it's genetic. I should have known it would happen again."
Chris now looked up at her, narrowing his eyes wanting to understand, but not following where she was going, "Whatta mean?" he asked.
"I mean, it's being passed down from generation to generation. First my father left, then my mother died, now Paul is gone and then there's Gregory," she said glancing at the sleeping child. "Everything I touch, everyone I'm close to, they all end up leaving me, dying, gone, so I'm destined to be alone. Paul knew what I wanted to do, I couldn't take it anymore. Now with what happened this morning, I just lost it, I wanted to end it, end this curse I have. I'm no good to anyone," she explained.
Chris watched her closely, she was an emotional wreck right now. He needed to find his way to the truth about the death of Paul, as well as keeping this woman's frail state of mind in check. "It's not you, you gotta believe that," Chris began, thinking somehow that her story sounded remotely familiar to Rita's in a sense.
"I used to. But I don't anymore. My life is a mess. When I was five my father left my mother with two children. He never came back. I cried then for a little while. But then my mother raised my brother and I. When I was 13, I came home from school and there was a policeman sitting with my brother. My mother was dead, she got shot at the restaurant she worked at. The man was robbing the place and my mother wouldn't give him her tip money," she said with tears now running down her face.
"It still had nothing to do with you, you can't blame yourself," Chris tried again to come up with the words that would comfort her and make everything ok.
The woman wiped her face with the back of her hand, for a moment she regained her composure. "Then there's Paul and Gregory," she started.
Chris eyes narrowed, not understanding where Gregory fit into the picture. "Gregory is still here," he said.
The woman nodded and ran her free hand through her hair. Taking any emotion out of her voice she answered, "Gregory has cancer, the doctors found it seven months ago, just after Paul and I got married. He's been in and out of hospitals ever since. This morning the doctor told us that it would only be a matter of time for him. That we could maybe try taking Gregory to Mayo Clinic for some experimental treatment, but he couldn't guarantee anything, except more bills," she suddenly stopped.
"And Paul," Chris broke the silence. It seemed like keeping her talking was actually some kind of therapy. And Chris needed to understand what was happening in this woman's life.
The woman raised her hand to her mouth, afraid to let her sobs be heard. "Paul worked so hard for so little money, he just couldn't keep up with the bills, he lost job after job, he felt like a failure. We were all Paul ever wanted. A family. He adored Gregory," she paused and smiled, "and me. Now that family was being shattered apart. I couldn't stand seeing what it would do to Paul. He had no family of his own he told us. He was so good to Gregory. When Paul found out that Gregory was sick, he'd been working three jobs to help pay the bills. And he'd spend any free time at the hospital, holding Gregory's hand, making him laugh when the pain was unbearable for a five year old," she stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" Chris asked.
"You don't understand, I can see it in your eyes," she said coming closer to him, "to loose everyone you ever loved, thinking it has to do with you, that you're the reason, you are causing the death, from being too close, loving too much," she said holding the gun right in front of him.
Chris closed his eyes for a moment, when he opened them a tear dropped down from his right eye. "Yeah, I do. It means you stop allowing yourself to feel, to need," he paused, "to be loved and to love in return. You can't do that, Gregory is still alive, he still needs you and he loves you, anyone can see that. You gotta love him back. You can't end your life while your still living it, that's not what your parents would want or what Paul would want and it's certainly not what Gregory wants. I know someone a lot like you, now I understand her a whole lot better, thanks to you. Your life doesn't end when someone else dies, it goes on. You gotta go on, we all do," Chris said. Neither one of them spoke or moved for what seemed like an eternity.
She lowered the gun and dropped it to the floor. "Go ahead, get outta here, you got your story. I only wish it would end happy," she said walking away from Chris. She went and stood in the corner near the boy.
Chris picked up the gun and went over to her. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Lori," she said.
Chris could tell that she was beginning to cry. He turned her around and hugged her. "It's gonna be alright Lori, we'll figure something out, I promise, I'll help you in any way I can. We'll get through this."
Rita was worrying big time by now. It was nearly 1am and the Jazz Festival was coming to an end. People were filing out of Ocean Park and the police officers were cleaning up the scene of the crime. One Detective Sergeant Christopher Lorenzo was no were to be found. "He had to have found her Cap," Rita began as she shivered from the cooler night air. She still was wearing shorts and a short sleeve camp shirt, she hadn't expected to be out quite this late, "Or he certainly found something, he wouldn't be gone for this long. Something happened to him," she added in a worried tone.
"It's not gonna do any good to worry Rita, maybe he did find the woman or the kid, or someone else, maybe he's just questioning them," Cap tried to lighten her mood.
"For four hours? I don't think Chris has ever interrogated anyone for that long," Rita added.
"Ok, so maybe he found her and took her in for questioning downtown," Cap began again.
"We came in my car, he doesn't have the keys, besides he would have called or got word to me somehow. No, he's still here somewhere, I can feel it," she said looking into the darkness.
"Lori, how do you know that Paul killed himself," Chris began as he loosened from the hug he gave her.
Lori looked at him baffled by what he just asked. "What do you mean? Who are you?" she asked now pushing him away and breaking free from his touch.
Chris backed away and put his hands up showing that he wouldn't hurt her. "I lied," he began, "My name is Chris Lorenzo, I'm a homicide detective."
"You're a cop?" she asked loudly.
Chris nodded, "yeah, we think Paul was murdered," he started.
Lori's head was spinning now, "And you think I killed him, my own husband, I loved Paul, I told you I wanted to kill myself, he took the gun away and said if anyone should die it should be him, that he wasn't meant to have a family, " she retorted.
"I know that, but someone killed him Lori, the angle of the wound suggests it," Chris answered.
"Mommy?" Gregory said as he stood up and went by his mother.
"What is it sweetie," she asked picking him up?
"Can I tell him?" Gregory asked.
"You can tell me anything Gregory," Chris interjected, wondering what the little boy knew.
His mother nodded to him that it was ok, "tell him what you told me Gregory, it's ok. He won't hurt you."
"Paul had to go to the bathroom and I followed him in there. Him and Mommy were sad, cuz of me, cuz I'm sick all the time, they both were crying," Gregory began.
"What happened in the bathroom Gregory?" Chris asked.
"Paul was by the sink and then I saw the gun. I thought it was a toy, cuz Paul always gave me toys. So I went over and tried to grab it and play with it. But Paul wouldn't let me, he took it away and told me to go by Mommy. Then I was leaving then and I saw Paul with the gun and he had it by his head. I ran back to him and tried to push it away. I jumped, but it went off. And then Paul was on the floor. I took some water and wiped it off but it kept coming. I ran out to find Mommy. And when we went back in, Paul was gone."
"Now you see what I mean," Lori said to Chris, "It never stops, it's one rotten thing on top of the next. Now my baby has to go through this. I'm not letting you take him. I won't, he's been through enough."
Chris put his head down, thinking momentarily of what to say. "I'm not gonna take him, but I do need you both to come with me, and get this cleared up. And I think you need to talk to someone and get some help. I promise you that I won't let anything happen to you or to Gregory. I'll make sure of that," he explained.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Lori asked him.
Chris smiled softly, "I understand where you've been and what you've had to go through." Together the three of them left the darkened building and stepped into the night air.
They slid back under the opening of the cyclone fence, the same way they had entered. A few people still lingered at the festival, mainly grounds workers, some roadies and a few police officers still hung around. Rita saw Chris from a distance, carrying the child with the woman walking beside him. She and Cap had just gotten word from Diana that indeed, Paul Fox committed suicide. She had explained that the strange angle of the entrance wound could have been caused by the victim accidentally slipping or bumping into the wall or something else like that. It was definitely suicide though.
Rita and Cap started to walk towards Chris as well as a uniformed police officer. When they met, Chris handed Gregory to the uniformed cop and told him to take both the child and the mother to the hospital to get checked out. Gregory needed some rest, some food and probably some kind of cancer treatment and Lori, well Chris just wanted to make sure she was ok too. "I'll take care of everything, Lori, you don't need to worry, Shane here is going to take you both to the hospital to get checked out. If you have any questions, just ask him, and he can get in touch with me, right Shane?" Chris said glancing at him.
"Yes, sir, not a problem. Why don't you both come with me?" Shane said to Lori.
Before Lori could leave, she turned to Chris, "Thanks for listening and understanding, I think I may be ready to try again.
Chris smiled, "I'm glad to hear that, I think you made the right choice, everything will be ok." With that Lori and Gregory went with Shane.
Chris stood and watched them walk away and Rita came up to him and gave him a hug, "Are you ok," she asked, seeing the blood stain on his shirt.
He grabbed the side of his head where he had gotten hit and rubbed it carefully. "I think I'll live. I'm actually surprised you're still here, how's everything going?"
"We are just wrapping it up, it was a suicide," she added.
"Yeah, I know, the little boy witnessed the whole thing," he explained.
"So what took you so long then Lorenzo, we were just getting ready to send out a militia to find you," Cap said.
Chris grinned, "It's a long story Cap, it'll all be in my report I promise."
"It better be on my desk by Monday, first thing" Cap stated.
Chris started to nod, then remembered he had some business to take care of on Monday morning, "Ah, listen Cap," Chris started, "Would Monday afternoon be ok? Rita and I got something we need to take care of on Monday morning."
"What's more important than work?" Cap asked gruffly.
Chris and Rita just looked at each other wondering how to explain this to him, "See Cap, we're trying to find a place...well together...." Chris started.
"Yeah, and we have an appointment for Monday morning to look at this one we found," Rita ended, "would that be alright?"
Cap shook his head in dismay, "You two don't see enough of each other every day at work already, huh?" Harry shook his head pretending not to understand but knowing full well what they were probably up to, "Yeah, it's ok, but Monday afternoon, no later than that."
"Thanks Cap," Rita said.
"And quit looking for dead bodies and try to enjoy the rest of the weekend ok?" Cap added as he walked away.
"So Mr. Lorenzo, are you going to tell me whose blood this is?" Rita grabbed his shirt as they started to exit the park as well.
"It's mine," he answered putting his arm around her shoulder.
"And just how did it get there?" Rita prodded.
"I believe it may have been from a two by four or maybe a pipe, I'm not really sure, I can't remember," he said.
"Maybe you should get checked out at the hospital too," she added feeling the goose egg on the side of his head.
"Nah, I'm fine, let's just go and do the preliminary report, check on Lori and Gregory and go home, I'm beat," he said pulling her close.
"I'm for that," she said.
Sitting at their desks in the almost dark office, Rita was wrapping up a phone conversation while Chris was busy at his computer putting the finishing touches on their initial report, one key at a time. Rita hung up the phone and smiled at Chris, "I just got great news," she began.
Chris chewed on the pencil he had in his mouth and continued to peck away, "Tell me we don't have to finish this report?" he murmured.
She gave him one of her 'don't be ridiculous' looks, "Don't you wish. No, this is even better," she said.
He stopped typing and spit the pencil out, "It's late, I'll bite, what's up."
"I just got off the phone with Alan Fox, Paul's Dad, he's going over to the hospital now, he wants to make Lori and Gregory part of a family he never had. He wants to start again and do things the right way," Rita said excited.
"That's great, Lori deserves another chance and maybe Gregory can get the care he needs too. Maybe they'll all make it this time," Chris said nodding his approval of the whole situation.
"I hope so, I think Alan will make a great dad," Rita started, "Say are you just about wrapped up there Sam?"
Chris had gone back to typing, "Yep, right about now," he said with a flourish as he tapped the last key he needed.
"Well, let's go then, I've got a surprise," Rita said.
Rita hopped in the drivers side of her LeBaron, Chris got in the passenger side. "Is this gonna take long?" Chris asked miserably.
Rita looked over at him stunned, "I thought you were looking forward to this weekend, alone, together, with me."
"It's 3:30 in the morning Rita. I got smacked in the back of the head tonight, I had to sit in a dingy, old, smelly building for four hours. I had a loaded gun pointed at my face most of that time; so yeah I guess I'd like to be alone, together, with you in bed, so where and what could be going on now?" He asked tiredly.
"I told you it's a surprise," she looked at him with a smile and raised her eyebrows.
They drove a little ways along the ocean and finally she turned onto Leigh Avenue in front of their prospective house. Chris' face was blank. "What are we doing here? Admiring how it looks at night?" Chris asked sarcastically.
"Very funny," Rita replied, "follow me," she continued quickly getting out of the car.
Chris sat momentarily wondering what she was up to and then proceeded to get out. "Are we pulling a black bag job here Detective Lance?" he said coming up behind her.
"Not at all, I have the key," she proclaimed, pulling a key out from under the mailbox.
"And just how did you manage that?" he asked as she inserted it into the lock and opened the door.
"I asked Marcia and she said sure," and jokingly she continued, "and it's hard to say no to a cop with a gun right?" Rita replied smiling.
Rita now went inside the house, Chris again was frozen in his own footsteps, from this latest revelation of hers. "So just what are we doing here anyway?" Chris asked following her inside and closing the door.
"Getting used to our new house to be," she answered as she lit a candle up in the living room.
"When did you set all this up?" Chris asked turning around, searching the room as she continued to light a few more candles and saw that there were some scattered pillows on the floor along with a few blankets, plus a bottle of wine and two glasses.
"Let's just say I took a few spare minutes earlier this evening to make a call. Marcia is very helpful," Rita said sitting down, beginning to pour the wine.
"I'd say that lady is one hell of a realtor, if the papers were here right now I'd sign 'em, no questions asked," Chris responded sitting down next to Rita.
Rita turned so that she was behind Chris and she wrapped her arms around him and handed him a glass of wine. He took a sip of it and set it on the ground. Slowly he eased back and rested against her chest. She kissed the top of his head. "Are you feeling any better yet?" she asked him.
"One hundred percent," he said closing his eyes and enjoying their closeness.
"How do you like the surprise?" she continued brushing her chin through his soft hair.
"I love it, almost as much as I love you," he said in a whisper. She leaned over and kissed his forehead. They sat this way in silence for a few minutes. "I think I learned some important things today," Rita began. Chris remained quiet. "I think I understand you a little better now," she said.
"Whatta ya mean?" Chris asked quietly.
"I know how much having a family and getting married means to you. I think I can see it from your point of view now," she said matter of factly. Chris smiled and raised up his hand to stroke the side of her face. She turned her face into his warm touch.
"What brought that on?" he asked.
"Well Paul Fox's parents just said some things while I was questioning them," she paused.
"Like what?" he asked.
"They reminded me of your parents, I mean, here they got married and had this wonderful little boy and they just gave it all up, for what?" she asked no one in particular. "All Paul ever wanted was a mom and a dad, a family," she added.
"As long as it's confession time, I think I understand you a lot better too," Chris began. "I could never even begin to imagine how it's been for Rita, loosing your parents, your foster parents, what you went through with Eric. But I can see how you just wanna maybe give up and not try anymore. Not love again. I don't know why it took me so long to see that."
"When did you have time to think about all this?" Rita asked slightly surprised.
Chris waited before he spoke, "I guess you could say it was a long evening. Listening to Lori, man she's just had so much tragedy, it was one thing on top of another. She wanted to give up and close herself off from everyone," Chris said as his voice trailed off.
Rita nuzzled along the side of his face, "Alan Fox said all that Paul ever wanted was a family, something he never had as a child. I guess when he thought he was going to loose his chance at having a family again, he just couldn't take it," she said sorrowfully.
"And Lori couldn't take seeing Gregory die too, she thought she'd loose Paul then too because of that," Chris added. They quietly laid there in silence once again. "Sam, I'll always be here for you, I'm gonna wait for you, I love you," Chris said in a hushed tone.
Rita waited a long while before she answered, she had been in deep thought, thinking about what she had said to him and now by what he had revealed to her. She could feel Chris chest rise and fall with each breath he took. This was home, their in each others arms, it didn't really matter where they lived, as long as they were together. Now she knew it too, it was worth the risk. She kissed the top of his head again and said, "I love you too Chris," and added, "I'm ready." She smiled as she said it, thinking what his response would be. But there wasn't one. She carefully shifted aside and saw that he had drifted off to sleep. She reached for the blankets and carefully laid them over the two of them, snuggling close to him, she fell to sleep quickly.
She was wide-awake. He was fast asleep. It was Sunday morning. Cap had insisted that they enjoy the rest of their weekend. They were happy to oblige his request. So here they were, Chris taking full advantage of some extra time to rest and get some badly needed sleep and Rita, full of nervous, excited energy, wondering what glorious things this day held for them. Rita lay on her back, her head turned to the right to watch her partner, her best friend as he slept. If she hadn't been watching him so closely, she thought, he may as well be have been dead. He was so quiet, so peaceful. He must have been really tired. She smiled and grinned just enjoying himself by watching him. She was an incredibly lucky woman.
She kissed him softly, he didn't stir, she quietly got up and walked outside of the house. She stepped out onto the front porch and saw the sun just starting to rise over the house that was across the street. She caught a glimpse of the blue ocean in between the houses of the neighborhood and took a deep breath as the cool morning air refreshed her. While she stood there, Chris had come up behind her and put his arms around her and took a deep breath as he felt her hair brush against his face. She smiled as she felt his warm touch.
"Morning sunshine," he said running his nose up and down the side of her neck.
"Guess what Chris?" Rita began.
"Hmm, let's see, you made me breakfast?" he asked jokingly.
"Nope even better," she continued.
"You're buying the house with your money?" he laughed.
"Not in this lifetime," she answered, "one more try?"
"Hmmm, how about, you love me?" he asked
"That's a given, nnnnnt, times up," she said, I can see everything clearly this morning,"
He gently turned her around in his arms, "I know, I heard you say so last night."
She smiled warmly and reached in for a passionate kiss.
The End
Ok, so can anyone guess what may happen in my next story???? Well you might be surprised!
So what does everyone think? I hope that you all enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Not enough crime?? Too much fluff?? Let me know, though the fluff is much easier and a lot more fun to write (for me, that is) The feedback I've gotten from my first two stories still amazes me...I thank you all so much. It certainly has made me smile a whole lot more and write faster than I ever thought I could. So was this story as good, better or (gulp) worse. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think...I want them to get better, so if it's worse, please say something so I can try to fix it. I also apologize ahead of time for any spelling boo boo's and my overuse of the comma. Plus I hope this one is formatted better for you all to read. And as always, would you like to read more?
Special thanks once again to Linda & Lisa for posting my stories.
And now for the usual banter.....Chris, Rita, Harry, Diana, Howie, Tina, Rita's parents, Rita's foster parents, Chris' parents and the mere mention of (boo....hiss) Eric and Jillian, all belong to Stu Segall, Stephen J. Cannell and the USA Network. (Gosh how I wish at least Chris belonged to me (would life be so sweet then!) There is no infringement intended and I hope they realize if they were still on the air with new episodes of our favorite couple, we wouldn't really have to be doing this, and maybe I'd have a job writing for Cannell (ha ha)
Juan Valdez belongs to Hills Brothers (me thinks, or possibly Folgers or the ad people that created him)
The house scenario, which may have sounded slightly familiar to some of you... "the first one was too big, the second was too small and the third one was just right," comes from that kindergarten masterpiece, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Also no infringement intended.
Treveon Thomas, Marcia Thompson, Paul, Lori, Gregory, Alan, Maria and all the other assorted characters that never existed before are mine. 'John Doe' is purely a fictitious band as well, I really thought the name was pretty creative though (smile smile)
And I'm sorry for the delay in getting this one out, I took a vacation in April. And to anyone looking for a travel destination --- if you have a ton of money, go to Palm Beach --I spent a week in Fort Lauderdale, a mere 45 minute ride from PB, and all I can say is wow!!!! That town is loaded. It also helped with the real estate scenario to be there and experience total decadence in all its glory. I highly recommend it as a vacation spot.
Send any and all comments, good or bad to me at tuna.dc@mailexcite.com