She weakly asked, "Catch Cowboy?"

"Almost, but he got away," Joel replied.

Beth demanded, "You need to get him for what he did to Pipe. Not many women are so attractive that they’ve had two men die for them. I’m special. You’re attracted to me too, aren’t you?"

Joel did not answer that as he commented, "Ray Newman died because of refusing to leave you, much to my surprise. Eric Lewis provoked his own death, leaving Fred without any other reasonable options. We call that suicide-by-cops."

Beth dreamily remarked, "Eric tried to get me to quit heroin, but I wouldn’t. Unable to live with that, he committed suicide. How romantic!"

Joel snapped, "There is nothing romantic about suicide. What Eric did was far worse than doing harm to himself. He shot a woman in the leg for no reason."

Beth asked, "What woman?"

"Sharon Smith," Joel shot back.

Beth stated, "Oh, the female cop. I thought you meant he shot a real person."

"Police are real people. Even with her leg in a cast, Sharon insists on working in whatever capacity that she can," Joel said.

Beth announced, "Cops don’t count as real people. Still, everybody knows you cops are big on duty. Even though you hate me and I hate you, it’s still your duty to track down Cowboy."

Joel replied, "We want to catch him as he is selling drugs. Where does he do that?"

"I can’t tell you that. It’d be snitching," Beth protested.

"Cowboy killed your friend Ray. He tried to kill you," Joel pointed out.

Beth shut her eyes, then said, "I know of three places. You already know about the condemned house and the cemetery. The third place is the woods in Rocky Shore Park."

Joel asked, "Anyplace else?"

Beth replied, "Those are all I know about, but you can catch Cowboy at the park."

Joel left the hospital room. Maureen was standing in the hallway, having refused to go in.

Maureen asked Joel, "Learn anything?"

Joel responded, "Beth told me that Cowboy sometimes sells drugs from the woods in Rocky Shore Park."

Maureen responded, "That’s not news. That’s where we just missed catching him."

"Yes, but Beth didn’t know that. She gave me what she thought was useful information. There’s hope for her yet," Joel remarked.

"I remember her delight when I got the needle in my glove. I don’t have hope for her," Maureen declared.

In the donut shot in the mall, Stan told Fred, "In the woods in Rocky Shore Park is a tramped down path leading to a clearing. That clearing is where Cowboy was dealing drugs."

Ralph commented, "We were freezing out tails off hiding in the bushes watching. Cowboy was there, along with a crowd of buyers."

Stan stated, "Suddenly, for no obvious reason, the druggies and Cowboy scattered. None of us officers had done anything as it was too soon. I jumped up and ran after Cowboy. Maureen and Joel leapt up and came at him from the other direction. Cowboy left the path we knew about, running down a different path. One I never noticed before. He had a car waiting. He got away."

Ralph noted, "We caught most of the buyers."

Fred wondered, "Ever find out why they scattered?"

"Yes," Stan responded. "Dave had mounted the surveillance gear up in a tree earlier that day so we’d have more evidence in court. When Dave reviewed the tapes, he heard one of the students there to buy drugs tell the all others that his much younger brother was climbing trees in the park that afternoon. His brother said there was a strange gadget up in a tree. The student telling the story hadn’t figured out the meaning, but Cowboy instantly did. That’s why everybody ran."

Ralph said, "We caught that student. He feels like an idiot for not figuring out what his brother found right away."

Stan said with concern, "Although Gary Alexander dressed like a cowboy, he didn’t carry a gun. The guy known as Cowboy has a big leather holster with a gun in it. I believe it is real gun, not a toy."

Fred declared, "I saw that gun when I reviewed your surveillance videos at the condemned house."

Stan sipped some coffee, then said, "Joel figured you had. He thinks that’s why we need to capture Cowboy before you become a licensed P.I."

Ralph put in, "Joel thinks you could get Cowboy to attack you with that gun. When you shoot back, it’ll be self-defense."

Fred angrily replied, "I never thought of doing that."

Stan said, "Even if you had, you’d be smart enough to claim you had not. Nobody can prove what you thought, after all."

Ralph remarked, "Assuming Cowboy really is who we think, you’d have reason for wanting revenge because of losing your job. That’s why Joel doesn’t want us helping you."

Stan proposed, "I’m asking you to help us instead. There are other drug dealers around that I’m trying to catch. Cowboy might know them. I want him alive, because he can’t talk if he’s dead."

Fred said, "You’ll never really get rid of drugs in this city. I tried for twenty-eight years."

Stan remarked, "We can win small battles. Tell us where to find Cowboy. When he’s in the process of dealing drugs."

Fred retorted, "What makes you think I know that?"

Ralph explained, "You promised not to go after him directly until you had your P.I. ticket. All of us in the room who heard it assumed that meant you’d still gather information, just not confront Cowboy."

Stan elaborated, "Professor Robust saw you strolling on the Port City University campus in the company of a young woman. She feels insulted you didn’t stop and say hello to her."

Fred ate a donut before he replied, then said, "I didn’t know Joel’s wife spotted me. The young woman is Sandra Black."

Stan asked, "The daughter of the man you saved? The man with a missing hand?"

Fred replied, "That’s right. It’s not just high school students who buy drugs from Cowboy. So do college kids."

Ralph said, "An old man like you could hardly wander a high school campus without getting in trouble, but I could see you on a college campus. People would just think you were a professor."

Fred nibbled another donut, then responded, "Since I have so much free time now, I’m thinking of taking some graduate classes at the university. Maybe get a master’s degree."

"Sure," Stan said in a tone indicating strong disbelief.

Fred grinned and said, "I might really take some courses, so it’s not a phony excuse. Sandra was showing me around the campus."

Stan skeptically remarked, "And what did you talk about as she did that? The library hours? The winning record of the football team? What professors to avoid?"

Fred feigned surprise and shock as he said, "It turns out Sandra knows a few students who use illegal drugs."

Ralph snorted and said, "Hard to be a student at any university anywhere in the country today and not know at least some druggies."

Fred announced, "Cowboy believes enough time has passed that the condemned house isn’t being watched anymore."

Stan said, "I don’t think he’d go back there. It’s too well known now as a drug dealer hangout."

Ralph said, "My grandfather used to trap animals. He said that animals would return to..."

The squawking of a portable radio interrupted Ralph’s story. A woman's voice said that Ralph and Stan were to go to a certain department store immediately. Using police code, the voice said that a woman had just been apprehended for shoplifting. Stan talked into the radio, then signed off.

Fred said to them, "My aunt's there. She's old and forgetful. Maybe she forgot to pay! I never should’ve left her alone."

Stan, Ralph, and Fred hurried to the department store. In her wheelchair, Gail was next to the store detective.

"Hello, officers. This customer noticed another woman tucking merchandise under her clothes. I confirmed it with the video," the store detective said, indicating one of the overhead close-circuited television cameras.

Gail said, "I didn't know what else to do."

The store detective said, "You did the right thing, ma'am. The suspect is by the counter."

They turned to see Mrs. Lewis.

Stan approached her and said, "It's been a few years since I've seen you at this, Mrs. Lewis."

Stan turned back to the store detective and asked, "Will the store be pressing charges?"

The store detective replied, "On a repeat offender like her? Of course, even if it has been a few years."

Stan then informed Mrs. Lewis that she was under arrest, then read her her rights.

Gail asked, "Didn't she just receive a big chunk of money from the city?"

Fred confirmed, "A hundred thousand dollars. It’s supposed to be a secret amount, but she herself blabbed to the reporters."

Gail wondered, "Why would anybody shoplift when they had more than enough money to buy the items?"

Ralph stated, "Happens a lot, Ms. Vigeretti. Half the people we arrest for shoplifting could easily pay for the items."

Gail said, "I don’t understand."

Fred stated, "Ralph’s right. In a sociology class that I had in college, a list of possible reasons was given: feeling society owes them something; adrenaline rush with the risk of being caught; a compulsive mental disorder; or even a political statement. None of that theorizing helped me much in the field."

Ralph remarked, "We arrested her son Eric at this same store. For him, it did seem about not having money. He wanted new clothes to impress a rich girl and her parents. He gave their name when explaining that they had lots of money, while he lived in poverty."

Fred guessed, "The Droughtons?"

"Bingo! Eric acted like not only should we let him go, but we should let him take the clothes too. He claimed that he was a genius who deserved them. Some genius! He didn’t remove a sensor tag inside the pant cuff. When the store detective realized this was Mrs. Lewis's boy, the store pressed charges. That's not something they always do the first time they catch a high school kid," Ralph explained.

Ralph then used his portable radio to report what was going on.

Fred blurted, "I know that voice!"

Ralph said into the mike, "Somebody wants to say hello."

He handed the mike to Fred.

Fred keyed it and said, "Sharon?"

Instantly recognizing the voice, Sharon said, "Good to hear from you, Fred. I’m on radio dispatch until my leg heals. Stop by for lunch and we'll talk. I'm not supposed to chat over the air."

A few days later, Fred Vigeretti got up from the dinner table in his home. He gathered dishes.

Still seated at the table, Nora Lure said, " I never knew you could cook so well."

As he rinsed dishes, then put them in the dishwasher, Fred said, "Being unemployed finally gives me time for it. It’s a recipe from Aunt Gail."

Nora remarked, "I heard the Droughtons are threatening to sue you."

Fred said, "Nothing’s been filed yet. Beth claims it wasn’t me at the cemetery, but her father insists it was but she didn’t recognize me in the cowboy outfit."

"Mr. Shuster their lawyer?"

"Of course. If they say about me being a drug dealer to the press, I'm suing," Fred said.

Nora said, "Really? You wouldn't sue the city using the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can’t do it unless you let me."

Fred paused in rinsing dishes and said, "That’s different. Having two eyes would not have made any difference with Eric Lewis, even if Joel still has doubts. For other situations, it might. What if my disability jeopardized another officer or a civilian? I have my disability pay. That’s what it’s for. I don’t want to sue the city."

Nora remarked, "You could still sue Mrs. Lewis. She told many lies about you. We can prove that."

Fred put some more dishes in the dishwasher, then said, "I'd get bad press for harassing a grieving mother. Besides, she ruined her own reputation by shoplifting. Hardly anybody believes her lies about me after that."

"I suppose the press coverage would make you look bad if you went after her. The way she shoplifted in the exact same store that her son was caught makes me wonder if she was trying to be caught. Doing it out of guilt," Nora remarked.

Fred responded, "Could be, but I don’t really know. Whatever her reasons, it’s a crime."

"You were right about confessing to pot smoking in college doing you more good than harm in the press, much to my surprise," Nora said.

Fred shrugged, then said, "I can't change my past. If I could, I'd change it so my head wouldn't have been in the path of that bullet a year ago."

Nora commented, "If the path of the bullet had been a little off the other way, you'd be dead."

"Or a mental vegetable," Fred said, shivering, as that scared him much more than simply dying.

As Nora handed some dirty dishes to Fred, she spotted a letter on the counter. Once Fred took the dishes, she picked it up.

Nora asked, "What’s this?"

Fred answered, "My private investigator license arrived today. I’m now a P.I., just like characters in detective novels."

Nora looked at the letter with horror, then announced, "It isn’t smart for you to go after Cowboy. Can you legally carry your gun?"

"Yes," Fred said.

The phone rang. Fred answered, hardly said a word, then hung up.

Fred said, "Joel said that we should turn on the news immediately."

Still holding the envelope, Nora asked, "Did he explain why?"

"No, but he sounded delighted," Fred answered as he put on the TV to the channel his former partner had instructed.

On the TV, the same young woman who had once quizzed Fred in front of the church announced, "A local attorney has been arrested for selling drugs."

During the report, video footage released from the police department showed various high school and college students entering a condemned house. It was the same house where Michael Trapp, Beth Droughton, and Ray Newman had been captured. The heads of the students were deliberately blurred out with circles. Video taken from inside showed a somewhat overweight man in a cowboy hat, sunglasses, and beard selling drugs. His head was not given a blurred circle. Suddenly, the police came rushing in. The students and the cowboy gave up without a struggle. The cowboy's hat, glasses, and fake beard were removed. He was unveiled as Mr. Shuster.

Nora said, "I knew he was slimy, but I never thought Mr. Shuster had been doing that! Hey, you don’t seem surprised."

"I identified Cowboy as Mr. Shuster to the police several days ago," Fred remarked, still finding it strange to describe the police as a group that did not include himself.

Nora complained, "You didn’t tell me that you knew who Cowboy was."

"The evidence wasn’t that solid until now."

Nora said, "I’m amazed the condemned house was being used again to sell drugs. Aren’t you?"

Fred laughed and said, "Not hardly. I was the one who sent the police there."

"I thought..." Nora said, then broke off the sentence, but held up the envelope.

Fred remarked, "That could be useful to have in the future."

The phone rang again. Fred answered. As he talked, Nora knew that Fred was talking to Joel again. Fred smiled and joked.

Fred said into the phone, "I’ve been thinking of taking a vacation. Long one, maybe a month. Would that cause any problem with the cases? I wouldn’t mind giving a deposition on video. Sure, I’ll let you know how to reach me. I’d have to anyway in case my aunt or mother got sick."

Fred talked a little more, then hung up.

Fred grinned at Nora and said, "He said that he should have had more faith in me. He thanked me for supplying the tip about the house to Stan and Ralph."

Nora remarked, "Now I know why Mr. Shuster was so rich even though he never seemed to win any cases. I don't think the Droughtons will be filing a lawsuit against you after this. I can't imagine another lawyer in town taking that on."

Fred leaned back in the couch. He let out a long, deep breath. The breath felt like he'd been holding it since Eric Lewis had opened fire.

Nora remarked, "I heard you asking Joel if it’d be okay to take a long vacation."

Fred replied, "He said that it wouldn’t be a problem as long as I gave video depositions before leaving. I'd like to get away from Port City for a while, especially now that it's snowing. I'd like to go someplace warm for a while. Someplace where I can get away from my ghosts. Even from Carrie's ghost."

Nora asked, "Can you leave your Mom and Aunt Gail?"

Fred said, "Yesterday, Mom herself suggested I take a month off. However, when I get back from vacation, I’ve got to watch Gail for a month over here at my place. Seem like a good deal to you?"

Nora replied, "Your aunt will be hard to put up with for a month, but it still sounds worth doing. Where would you go?"

Fred replied, "Spending the next month sailing around the Caribbean would be nice."

Nora said dreamily, "That'd be romantic! I could use a break too. Not just your situation, but the Blackstone case took a lot out of me."

"You stood by me through all this, and also when I was shot last year. That helped me more than I can ever say. Come along," Fred said.

Nora asked, "Are you serious about the Caribbean?"

"Irene Robust knows another professor, a marine biologist, who owns a sailboat he keeps down there. It's about half again as big as the Melissa. The professor lives on the boat during the summer when he doesn’t have classes. During the rest of the year, he leases the boat. I talked to him. His rate is reasonable," Fred said.

"That sounds like a wild, fun fantasy," Nora said.

Fred declared, "The Robusts really got me hooked on sailing. There's not much of that going on in Maine right now, so why not go to where there is?"

Nora said, "It sounds lovely! I’d love to come."

Fred grinned at her, walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, then said, "A sailboat's pretty cramped quarters. I don't know if I could stand being that close to you for so long without giving in to temptation."

Nora complained, "You can be so Victorian sometimes! Whatever happened to your wild hippie side?"

Fred said, "I became much more serious about my religion after Carrie and I got thrown out of Stephen’s house. You know what my church says about marriage."

"You're widowed, not divorced. As for me, I lived with Ted for years out in LA, but I never married him. Given how it worked out, I'm glad I never did," Nora said.

Fred remarked, "We could do something that'd make it perfectly all right. I wouldn't want to postpone the sailing trip, though."

Nora giggled and asked, "Come on, do you really mean elope? Like we were a couple teenagers?"

Fred smiled and said, "If that seems too juvenile to you..."

Nora interrupted, "It's completely outrageous, but I love it! I accept!"

The End