Nora remarked, "Fred is taking a call from his mother. He’ll be right back."

Joel said, "I won’t be able to get to you two today. Can you come back tomorrow? Nine...better make it ten am. It’ll be a late night for me."

Nora replied, "Can you tell me what is going on?"

"Not yet. Maybe tomorrow," Joel responded, then hurried off.

A few minutes later, Fred returned. Nora told of the mysterious delay.

Fred thoughtfully said, "I think I know what Joel's doing. As for Mom, she said that lasagna will reheat well, but I turned it down."

Nora asked, "Why don’t you go call her back? It might be good for you to be with your mother this evening."

"Mom is not the problem. I wish she hadn’t taken in Aunt Gail."

Nora countered, "I think it is sweet that Lana did that. It is so much better than Gail having to live in assisted living now that she is in a wheelchair."

"I agree with that on one level, but I cannot handle my aunt tonight," Fred replied.

Nora could appreciate what he meant. Although a caring woman, Gail’s strongly stated, inflexible opinions sometimes got on Nora’s nerves too.

Fred suggested, "Why don’t we head to the hospital and check on Sharon?"

Nora agreed with that.

Fred requested, "Can we take your car? I've got so much on my mind that I'd have trouble concentrating on my driving."

They went out and climbed into her blue sports car. However, they did not discuss the case. The only discussion was that Fred wanted to stop at the flower shop, but it was closed already. Nora then suggested that the supermarket, which was open twenty-four hours, also had flowers. They stopped there. Since it was the end of the day, many of the flowers looked wilted, but Fred and Nora picked the best of the lot. With effort, they managed to get a nice-looking bouquet. They then traveled to the hospital.

Fred asked a nurse for Sharon’s room.

Looking at Fred’s uniform, the nurse said, "Officer, if it isn’t absolutely necessary, we should let her sleep. Didn’t the other officer get the critical information already?"

Fred sharply asked, "Who?"

The nurse replied, "His first name was Stan. I forgot his last name. He needed to get a statement in case she died. The doctor hated that, but allowed it."

Nora blurted out, "Is she still alive?"

"Yes. She needed a tremendous amount of blood, but we had enough. The surgery on her leg went well, but a metal pin had to be put in the bone," the nurse said.

Calmer now, Fred commented, "I know Stan. I am sure he did only what he had to do. Will Sharon make a full recovery?"

The nurse said, "You'll have to ask the doctor that, but he’d probably tell you it is too soon to be certain."

Fred said, "I am Sharon’s partner. I am here as a friend, not on official business."

The nurse then said, "In that case, you can come back tomorrow during regular visiting hours. If you like, I will see that she gets those flowers."

"That will be fine," Fred said, handing them over.

As they left the nurse, Nora said, "I’m hungry. Even the hospital cafeteria will do."

Fred remarked, "If you like lasagna, I’m sure there is plenty extra if we go to Mom’s. She always makes too much. I’m feeling better after hearing that Sharon’s doing well. I think I could take Aunt Gail tonight if you come along."

"All right," replied Nora.

Fred stopped at a pay phone in the lobby, then came back. He said that his mother would be happy to see them both.

Lana Vigeretti opened the door when they knocked. She was a thin, small, white-haired woman. Fred gave her a quick kiss.

Lana said, "Hi, son. Glad to see you, Nora."

"Sorry it’s so late, Mom. We stopped at the hospital," Fred explained

Lana nodded and said, "Gail and I just watched the evening news. It’s a shame about your new partner getting shot. How's she doing?"

Fred responded, "The surgery on her leg went well, but I can't talk with her until tomorrow. Was a lawyer named Mr. Shuster on the news?"

"Not on the station we watched," Lana replied.

Fred and Nora followed Lana into the house. Nora glanced at the crucifix hanging in the hallway.

From the living room, Aunt Gail's voice yelled, "Who's there?"

Fred walked over, gave a peck on the cheek to the larger gray-haired woman sitting on the couch, and said, "It's I. Nora Lure is here too."

Gail said, "I always liked her better than Carrie."

Fred's face instantly turned to barely restrained anger, and he backed away from his aunt.

Lana gently touched Fred's shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry she said that. Gail hasn't been the same since her last stroke."

Fred whispered back, "That's just an excuse. She said things like that to Carrie before we got married and even afterward. I could handle that then, but now that Carrie's gone...it's just not right!"

Gail called out, "What'd you say about something not being right, Fred?"

Fred snarled, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Let it be," Nora said softly. "It really might be the effect of her last stroke that causes Gail to say things like that. I know how much you loved Carrie. I liked her too."

Lana headed into the kitchen. She put some lasagna on plates, then put one of these plates, covered lightly with a paper towel, in the microwave.

As she worked, she said, "My husband came home late so often that I learned to make meals that reheated well."

Nora said, "Fred told me his father was a private detective."

Lana smiled and said, "Benson was indeed. He was a police detective in Boston for a number of years, but then we came up here, he went private. I thought being up in Maine was a strange place for doing that, but he found plenty of work. Clients sought him out."

Fred put in, "Dad was always traveling for his cases. He was constantly off to cities like Boston, New York, Los Angles, and so on."

Lana took a plate out of the microwave, swapped in the other, restarted the microwaves, and then said, "I went with him on some of those trips. I couldn't always go especially when Fred was a young boy. Sometimes, I could, though."

From the living room, Gail called out, "Lana, you've been talking about my dead brother all day. Benson used to do this, Benson used to do that. Can't you talk about something else?"

"I wasn't talking to you, Gail," Lana said angrily, then went over and slammed down the plates on the table in the dining room. Nora was surprised the plates didn't break.

Nora and Fred sat down.

"Are you joining us, Mom?"

"Gail and I ate already."

Nora said, "Sit with us. I’d like to hear more about your husband. I lived out in Los Angles for a number of years. Did you two travel out there?"

Lana smiled at some memories, and said, "Oh, yes. We went half a dozen times."

As Lana and Nora talked about various places in the Los Angles area, Fred devoured his piece of lasagna. He headed to kitchen to reheat another piece.

From the living room, Gail called out, "Fred, be a dear and help me into my wheelchair."

Fred set down his plate then went to the living room. Gail still had some use of her legs, so he only had to steady and help her a little to get from the couch into her wheelchair. As he thought many times, he felt that if she got any worse, she would have to move into an assisted living home. He had privately discussed it with his mother, but she insisted it wasn’t time yet. He had also given a little thought to moving in himself to help, but he worked such long and unpredictable hours that he did not think that would be good for any of them.

"Thanks," Gail said, then wheeled herself to the dining room.

Fred asked, "Do you want some lasagna too, Aunt Gail?"

"It’s been hours since I ate. Yes, I’ll have a small piece."

Fred got out a clean plate, having an easy familiarity with the kitchen. He then heated up a piece for Gail first. He brought it in for her.

Now at the table, Gail had interrupted the previous conversation and was saying, "Los Angles is such an ugly, superficial, polluted town. I hate the place! I much prefer being here in Port City."

"Here you go, Aunt Gail," Fred said, not at all happy that she was interrupting. He had been enjoying hearing his mother and Nora talk about some of the obscure sights around Los Angles.

Lana and Nora sat silently. Nora ate some of her lasagna.

Fred came back in with his new slice, and said, "You want some too, Mom?"

"No, thanks. You could get me a glass of milk, though."

Fred did that, then sat down. Fred, Gail, and Nora ate silently for a couple minutes, while Lana took a few sips of milk.

Lana set down her glass, then said, "It sounds like you had a terrible day. Want to talk about it?"

Fred swallowed, then said, "Sharon’s day was a lot worse than mine. I was her training officer. I should have..."

Fred stopped talking. The silence stretched on.

Finally, Lana asked, "You should have what?"

Fred said, "You know I can’t talk about specifics of a case, Mom."

Gail broke in and snapped, "You use that as an excuse when you don’t want to talk to us. I saw the news tonight. The reporter said you shot an innocent kid."

Fred took another bite, swallowed, and then firmly said, "I cannot talk about specifics like that."

Nora said, "Gail, neither Fred nor I saw the television news tonight."

Gail smiled at being in the spotlight, then stated, "The reporter said that Fred and his new partner Sharon went into a house seeking someone selling illegal drugs. A high school student who got straight A’s thought it was crooks breaking in. There was a fight, and Sharon got shot. No drugs were found!"

Fred said, "That’s completely wrong."

Gail argued, "Tell us what's true, then."

"Gail, you know that I can’t talk about these things," Fred said.

Lana rubbed her narrow chin, then said, "Dear, are you in some sort of trouble?"

Fred ate deliberately without replying.

Nora took a deep breath, then said, "We’ll learn more about the situation tomorrow, then we’ll let you know what we can."

Gail grasped the significance of the phrasing and triumphantly declared, "Nora, you’re in on this. Fred must have hired you to be his lawyer. Fred, you really are in trouble!"

Despite his second piece half-finished, Fred stood and said, and "We have to be leaving."

Lana did not make any comment about this abrupt news as she could tell how upset her son was, so she said, "Just leave the dishes. I’ll take care of them. I’ll pray for you tonight."

Fred stood and said, "Sharon Smith needs your prayers a lot more than I do. Let’s go, Nora."

Nora followed him.

Out in the blue sports car, Nora complained, "That was rude behavior from you!"

"If I didn’t get out of there right away, I'd have become a lot more rude!"

Nora said, "Some of your aunt’s behavior may really be from the stroke. At least she has an excuse. You don’t."

Fred let out a deep breath, then admitted, "What really makes me mad is that Aunt Gail might be right about how I messed up. I could have had Sharon come in the house. I could have ordered her to have her gun out. I could have had my own gun out. I could have kicked in the door immediately rather than shouting through it."

Nora said, "From my perspective, what you might have done differently is not as important as that what you did do was defensible based on what you knew at the time."

Fred nodded slightly and remarked, "I try to think of it that way, but it isn’t easy."

"Do you want to go back in?"

"I can't take any more of Aunt Gail tonight."

Nora put her car keys into the ignition, then said, "I’ll drive you home."

"No, drive me to the police station. I’ll drive my own car home."

Nora said, "You don’t have to put on an act of being invulnerable to me. This has been a hard day."

"Just take me to my car. I’m fine."

Nora didn't think he was fine, but she did as he asked.