Part 9
"Hi Harry." Tom stood in the doorway of Harry's office.
Harry looked up from his desk. "You are looking much better than you did
earlier, Tom. I see your eyes have stopped moving independently of each
other."
The detective sat down in the chair. "I feel much better."
"And how is the little mama?"
Tom grinned. "If you mean Cassy, she's fine. But I wouldn't call her that
to her face."
"Is this the face of a stupid man? I'm glad you came in. There are some
things we need to talk about."
Tom stretched back in the chair. "Go ahead."
"I don't mean to sound like a parent, but what in the hell were you
thinking keeping the news of Cassy's pregnancy away from me?"
Tom sighed. "Go ahead and said it. There is nothing you can say to me that
I haven't said to Cassy over and over."
"Then why didn't you come to me? Did you not trust me?"
This startled Tom. "Of course I trusted you."
"Then why?"
"You know why, Harry. Cassy told you herself."
"Yes, and now I want to hear your side."
"Oh come on, Harry. You've made your point. We made a mistake. Do you have any idea how often the image of Cassy lying bleeding in that office hits me? About the same number of times that I hear her doctor tell me that she might never wake up." He walked
to the window and stared at the street below. "I know how close the call was."
Harry realized that nothing he could say would have as much impact on Tom
as what he was already feeling. "Tom, I'm sorry for what you've been
through. If it was Frannie...let's just say you're taking it better than
I would have."
Just then Luna, one of the dispatchers, knocked on the door.
"They're ready for you Captain."
Harry looked at his watch. "I forgot about the meeting. Tell them I'm on my way."
"Meeting?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, with IA. They need me to verify some facts for them. Shouldn't take but just a few minutes. Can you wait?"
"Sure."
"I'm going to have to assign you a new partner." Harry explained when he
returned a short time later.
"I can't say I wasn't expecting it. Have you decided who or when?"
"Not yet. I need to get some information from Cassy before I start deciding
anything."
"Information? About what?"
"Whether or not she plans to return to active duty when her maternity
leave is over and if that includes being partnered with you again."
Tom leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair. "Between you and me,
and if you repeat this to Cassy I'll deny it, but if it was up to me, she
would be a stay-at-home wife and full time mother."
"Wife?"
"I realize that this may be an old fashion kind on thinking and not very PC
and certainly won't win me any 'Enlighted Man of the Year' awards,
but it's what I want. My mother stayed at home with me and I had a good
childhood. I know that Cassy would say that it's her decision because it's
her life. What do you think?"
Harry cleared his throat. "Did you say wife?"
"Life, I said life, not wife. Are you listening to me?"
"Before. You said you wanted Cassy to be a stay at home wife?"
Tom looked at Harry with some concern. "Yes, that's what I said."
"Does this mean that ...."
Tom grinned. "Yeah, Cassy and I are getting hitched...again."
Harry stood up, walked around the desk and gave Tom a big hug. "Thomas, my
boy, this is wonderful news. Frannie will be thrilled. We were just discussing this last
night. So when's the big day?"
"Soon. We haven't made any definite plans yet, but I'm pretty sure that
Cassy doesn't want to hit the maternity section when it comes to her
wedding dress."
"Well, since you two are getting married, that settles the partner issue." Harry sat down
at his desk.
"I know. I hate it. Cassy and I work so well together."
"I agree, but you know the rules about marriage and partners."
"The two shall never mix," Tom said sadly.
Harry opened a file. "On to other matters, the Garnett case was officially
closed this morning."
Tom was surprised. "Oh? I thought it was closed when Ashley Reed
confessed."
"It was, but new information was revealed including the workings of the
scam. Apparently Ashley Reed would search local high schools and colleges
for young pregnant girls. She would lead them to her husband with promises
of good and loving homes for their babies. The girls would stay at the Reed
Home until delivery. They would meet prospective parents. If there was a
match, then the process would begin."
"Sounds normal, Harry. How does murder fit in?"
"I was just getting to that. Anyway, after the baby was born, Dr. Reed
would tell the wholesome parents that the infant died and pass the baby on
to the rich couple."
"What about the mother? Didn't she notice that the wrong couple got her
baby."
"No, because Dr. Reed had her sedated after the delivery. When she woke,
she was none the wiser."
The very thought sent a chill down Tom's spine. "How horrible."
"I agree. Greer must have found out the truth and that's when they killed
her."
"That poor kid. She became a liability all because she was at the wrong
place at the wrong time."
"That's the way it works sometimes. Now why don't you take off
and go home to your future wife. That reminds me, are you moving in with
her immediately?"
"To tell you the truth, neither one of us has mentioned the idea. She may
not want to."
Harry shook his head. "I don't see that. You two were living together
before the wedding last time so the idea isn't new to you."
"You're probably right. I want Cassy to stay as stress free as possible,
doctor's orders. Do you think Frannie would be willing to help out with
the wedding planning?"
"She'd love to, I'm sure. There is nothing she loves more than to plan a
party. I'll have her call Cassy later."
Tom walked to the door. "Great. Then I'll be going unless you have
something else."
"Just one more thing. Until I can get you a new partner I'm going to have to find you something to do and I know just what it is. You're taking over Matt Jones' classes for the next couple of weeks at the academy."
"I can do that but what happened to Matt?"
"Broke his leg water skiing. Classes begin at 8:00 tomorrow morning."
"I'll be there."
Tom opened the front door and looked around. No sign of Cassy. Good, he
thought, maybe she was getting some rest. He entered the bedroom.
"What are you doing?"
She looked up from the floor and smiled. "Hi. I didn't expect you back
until later."
"I finished sooner. What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm emptying drawer space for your
stuff. Until you can move your own dresser in here, I'm afraid this is all
the space you have." She blew hair out of eyes. "I will be thrilled when
this sling comes off. Can you help me up?"
He bent over and picked her up. "The doctor told you nothing strenuous."
"Emptying a dresser drawer is not strenuous." She walked into the den.
"Where is your suitcase?"
"My suitcase?"
"Yeah, you know the box-shaped cloth item with a zipper that usually
contains clothes."
"Funny girl. Actually my box-shaped cloth item with a zipper is still in my
apartment in my closet." He walked into the kitchen and opened a soda can.
She followed him. "Why is your suitcase still in your apartment? I assumed
you would have brought it back with you along with all those trophies and
your boring collection of sport's video tapes."
"First of all, my sport highlight videos are never boring and second of
all, we haven't discussed me moving in right now."
She sat down at the table. "I didn't realize it warranted a discussion. I
just assumed you would. Do you not want to?"
"Of course I do. I just don't want you to over stress yourself dealing
with this along with planning a wedding."
"You moving in will be easy to do. Pack your clothes up and bring them
over here."
"What about my other stuff? My furniture and things."
She thought for a minute. "We're going to have to move."
"Move? There's not enough of my stuff to require a bigger house, Cass."
Cassy laughed. "No, but this house isn't big enough for the two of us and a
baby."
"But you love this house. I love this house. The baby won't be here for
a while so...."
"Yes, but I want to be moved in and have the house, including the nursery
decorated before he or she arrives."
Tom looked wistful. "I was looking forward to living on the beach again."
"We still can. There is a house half a mile up the beach that's for sale.
For what I can get on this place, we can swing it."
"It sounds like an awful lot for you to do."
"It won't be just me, I expect equal participation from you."
"I just don't want you to over-do it."
"Are we back to that again?"
"The doctor did tell you to take it easy."
"Look at me, Tom, I'm on medical leave for the next two weeks. I'd say
that relieves 98% of the stress right there. Planning a wedding, even a
small one, will be a piece of cake especially with your help. And since
Frannie called a little while ago with her offer of help, it couldn't be
easier."
"Okay, so you've covered the wedding. What about the house?"
"What about it? We find one we like, we make an offer. I get calls all the
time from real estate agents making offers on this house."
Tom sighed. "You have this all figured out, don't you?"
"Yeah, and I didn't even need a notepad."
To Part 10