Peter walked up behind her and slid his arms around her belly. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Before you ask, no, I don't think you're fat and, yes, I think you're beautiful."

She grimaced and shook her head. "We had brood mares on the ranch that didn't get this big."

He laughed and kissed her cheek. "You look wonderful. Since you've been pregnant, I've started noticing other women that are expecting babies. None of them look as great as you do."

She rested her hands on top of his and leaned back against his broad shoulders. "I feel like a baby elephant."

Nuzzling her neck, he nibbled at her earlobes. "You look like a woman. Beautiful. Confident." He glided his hands along her stomach until he carefully cupped a heavy breast in each palm. "You feel like a woman. Exciting. Desirable."

She turned her head slightly to meet his wandering lips with hers, moaning softly as he continued his gentle fondling of her sensitive flesh. Reluctantly pushing away his hands she said, "Much as I'd love to keep this...conversation...going, Peter, I have to get to work."

Peter's face fell. "Wish I could say that."

Turning to face him, she looked at him unhappily. "Oh, Hon, I didn't mean anything by what I said."

"I know. Don't mind me. I'm just going stir crazy here." He plopped down on the edge of the bed. "It's only been a couple of days, but it feels like years."

She deftly wove her hair into a braid as she spoke. "Well, get out of here then. Go visit your father. See the Ancient."

Peter sat up a little straighter. "Yeah. Chinatown. I've been meaning to make a few visits there."

"I see those wheels turning, Peter. What kind of trouble are you planning to get into today?" She stopped working with her hair and squinted at him. "That wasn't a rhetorical question, PC."

Bouncing to his feet, Peter planted a kiss on her lips. "Trouble? Moi? Nuh uh. I'm just going to take your advice and pay a few social calls."

She snorted and rolled her eyes heavenward in supplication. "As if I believe this."

Wong had an attractive Oriental woman on either side of him, and the three were laughing at a joke he had just told, when Peter grabbed a vacant chair and dropped into it, smiling broadly. "Jack. Good to see you, old buddy."

Wong stared at him belligerently. "Nobody invited you to this party, Caine."

"An oversight on your part, I'm sure."

"No oversight. You're not welcome here. You going to leave on your own, or should I call someone to...escort you?"

Peter laughed derisively. "Still can't do anything on your own, can you, Jack?"

Wong flushed and snapped, "Get out."

Peter leaned over the top of the table menacingly. "Not until we talk. Alone. You can do that by yourself, can't you, Jack? Talk, I mean?"

Wong motioned the women away with a wave of his hand. "Leave us." They obeyed him quickly, slipping out of their seats and disappearing through a side door. He watched them exit, then glared at Peter. "OK, we're alone. Speak your piece and get the hell out of here."

"Jack, is that any way to talk to one of your closest friends?" Peter chided him.

"What are you talking about? You're no friend of mine."

"Real-l-ly?" Peter said softly as he toyed with the silverware before him. "Then how come you're shooting your mouth off all over Chinatown about me? About how I 'owe' you? Tell me, Jack, old buddy, old pal." His voice deepened ominously. "Just exactly how do I owe you anything?"

Wong thrust out his jaw stubbornly. "You know why."

"Let's say I don't. Why don't you spell it out for me?"

Wong glared at him defiantly. "I don't spell so good."

Peter lunged to his feet and grabbed Wong's jacket by the lapels, jerking the smaller man halfway over the table and sending the table's contents spilling over and onto the floor. "Listen, you little weasel," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I've got enough to deal with in my life right now without you blowing smoke about me being in your pocket. Somebody offed Jason Fischer, and I know you don't have the guts to do it. We're gonna find out who his killer was, and he's going down. And then I'm coming after you and your little business here in Chinatown. Understand me?"

"Is there a problem, Detective Caine?"

Peter jerked his head sharply and stared at Lee Wong, who stood a little apart from the table with three very muscular men with stone-faced visages at his side. "Problem? What problem?" Peter released his grip on Jack's coat and smoothed the wrinkles with his hand. "Jack here and I were just having a friendly conversation. Weren't we, Jack?"

Wong thrust out his jaw and adjusted the collar of his shirt before straightening his tie. "Something like that. Caine was just leaving, Grandfather. Weren't you, Caine?"

"Oh, sure, Jack. But before I go, we do understand one another, don't we?"

"Perfectly."

"Well, see?" Peter grinned and winked. "There you go. Always nice to see you, Jack. Just brightens up my whole day." Peter carefully scooted the chair into place against the table. "Be seeing you around again sometime soon, pal." He saluted breezily and sauntered away whistling.

Lee Wong studied his grandson for a long moment before shaking his head in disgust and turning away, his escorts close on his heels.

Jack watched the disappearing back of his grandfather and strode to the side door, flinging it open with a muffled oath and slamming it behind himself.

Lo Si swallowed his sip of tea and set down the cup. "Ah. Young Caine. What brings you to my part of town?"

Peter stared at the elderly man. "What did you say?"

"American slang," Lo Si cackled. "It means 'why are you here?' "

"Lo Si, I know what it means. It-it just sounds weird when you say it."

Caine poured hot tea into a third cup and handed it to Peter. "You are investigating today, my son?"

Peter absently stirred his tea before speaking. "Not officially. I'm still suspended."

"But not for much longer," Lo Si said cheerfully.

"I wish I was as sure as you are." Peter took a careful sip, not wishing to scald his mouth as he had so many times before. "My lawyer says the same thing, but life has been so screwed up for so long, I'm having a hard time looking on the bright side."

"You were at the Imperial Palace earlier this morning." Caine looked solemnly at his son. "What did you learn?"

"Nothing." Peter grimaced in disgust. "No way in hell that Jack Wong had anything to do with Jason Fischer's death." He smiled grimly. "But I doubt he's going to be spouting off about his and my supposed business relationship."

"I wish I could tell you the Ancient and I have been successful. We have not." Caine shrugged a shoulder. "We have found no other priests in Chinatown. There are no whispers or suspicions."

Lo Si nodded gravely. "If this man was once Shaolin, he has renounced his vows. He is part of the darkness. There is no light in his soul."

"But, Pop, you're a Shambhala master. You've been in Chinatown long enough to sense these things, haven't you?" Peter argued.

"Peter, I am not an all-knowing being. I am only a man."

Peter's head dropped. "Sorry, Pop." Shaking his head ruefully, he grinned. "But you've gotta admit, you've done some pretty amazing things in the past three years. Can you blame me for thinking there's nothing you can't do?"

Caine ignored Peter's question and drank from his teacup slowly and deliberately. "The Ancient and I will still...keep our ears to the ground...for you, my son."

"We will leave no stone unturned." Lo Si chuckled mischievously. "That means --"

"We know what it means!" Peter and Caine chorused together, then looked at one another and laughed.

To Part 30

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