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Paul laughed along with the rest at one of Eppy's more graphic tales, but noticed with hidden concern the rate at which the man was consuming his drinks. Epstein had always been open to having a beer or two after work, but since his tenure at the 101st, he had graduated to bourbon, straight up. The ease with which he tossed back the liquor spoke of the fact that his was a highly developed taste.
Epstein had just finished off his fourth drink and ordered his fifth, when he glanced over at the front doorway. "Whoo hoo hoo, check out the fox over there," he leered wolfishly.
All heads swiveled in the direction he indicated and Peter smiled smugly as he rose to his feet. "That 'fox', Eppy, is my wife," he announced proudly, and went to meet Kacie.
Kacie had been looking around for Peter, and she lit up happily when she saw her handsome husband coming toward her. She walked eagerly into Peter's arms and offered her lips to him for a quick kiss, before they wandered back to the table hand-in-hand and took their seats.
"Kacie, I want you to meet the guy that took me under his wing when I was a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, fresh out of the academy," he told her. "Katherine Christine Caine, meet Patrick Michael Epstein."
Kacie extended her hand shyly to Epstein. "Kacie. I've heard a lot of stories about you."
He took her hand and openly stared. "Most people at this here table call me 'Eppy', pretty lady, but YOU can call me anything you want."
Kacie blushed and gently disengaged her hand from his when he failed to let go on his own.
Epstein shifted his glance to Peter and burst out, "My God, Tomato Can, you never told me your new wife looked like this. No wonder you latched on." He winked knowingly at Peter and smirked. "Sure hope you haven't had to run any suspects down on foot...you can't have any legs left under you after spending your nights with this." He laughed at his own joke and tossed back the rest of his drink.
Peter ducked his head in embarrassment, and Kacie's face flamed as she, too, looked away. The others paused awkwardly in their conversations, unsure of what to say. Caine looked at Eppy enigmatically, and Paul's expression was openly disapproving.
Eppy seemed to sense he had overstepped the bounds of propriety, and he quickly apologized. "Hey, no offense here. I was just tryin' to say that you are one gorgeous broad, and that Petey here was lucky to have found somebody like you willing to put up with him."
Dismissing it lightly, and wanting to put his friend at ease, Peter shrugged. "Ah, forget it, Eppy." Kacie shot him a look of disbelief that he missed entirely as he continued, "Tell us what you been up to these days."
"Same ol', same ol'," Epstein responded vaguely. "I had some leave time built up, so I decided to travel around some. I'm thinkin' about takin' early retirement and maybe startin' up my own P.I. agency. Remember, Kid, how we usta talk about that?"
Kacie sat silently next to Peter and tried to look interested in the conversations swirling around her. She had been mortified by Eppy's first comment, and a part of her was upset with Peter that he hadn't defended her. The man was obviously well on his way to being drunk, and she had never been comfortable around people in that kind of condition. She edged her chair a little closer to Peter's, and he automatically rested his arm around the back of it, lightly touching her shoulders.
Epstein eyed the move, and found himself wondering if he and his own wife had ever known that kind of easy affection. It had died long before the divorce, if it had ever existed. The only thing he could remember well was the constant bickering...about his work, his hours, his pay. The fighting had rapidly escalated into frequent shouting matches and sometimes broken crockery and holes in walls.
Returning to the present, Epstein asked, "So, Kacie, Petey here never told me what it is you do for a living...other than take care of him, that is."
"I'm a surgical nurse at County General."
"Hey, Tomato Head, you mean ya married your very own private duty nurse? Good move!" He slapped the table and laughed uproariously. "Man, when I think of all the close calls you had when we were partners! I thought the commissioner would cancel your insurance coverage." He started to count on his fingers. "Lemme see, there was the time you took a hit in the shoulder; that was the first, wasn't it? And there was the time you took one in the gut when we cornered that escaped con." He took another swallow of his drink and continued the litany. "There were what? Two, three other times you had holes put in you while we rode together?"
Kacie's face paled at the beginning of Eppy's recitation and grew steadily whiter with each detail.
Paul noticed this and interrupted grimly. "Twice more after that, and I, for one, would like to change the subject."
Eppy shrugged, but then continued in the same vein. "Well, then, how about the time we were chasing that perp down Main about 80 miles an hour and you cornered too fast and rolled the car..."
"Excuse me, I need to go powder my nose." Kacie abruptly rose from her chair and bolted for the bathroom. After a brief moment, Skalany followed after her.
"What'd I say?" Epstein demanded drunkenly. "Sheesh, Petey, is your woman always so touchy about stuff? Cops get shot at or hurt all the time. It's part of the job description."
Kermit broke into the conversation before Peter could say a word. "Her father and brother were cops and were killed in the line of duty," he growled. "Peter here nearly died before they were even engaged. You might say that the lady has earned the right to be a little 'touchy'."
Skalany walked into the ladies room to find Kacie splashing her face with cold water and trying to gulp back tears.
"Kacie, you OK?"
"No. No, I am not. I really didn't need to hear all that." Kacie went over to the towel dispenser and pulled fresh cloth down on the roller, burying her face while her shoulders shook.
After a few seconds she turned to Mary Margaret and spoke through angry tears. "That guy is a total jerk! Why has Peter always talked about him like he's some kind of god?" She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes to stem the flow of tears. "Dammit, I am NOT going to cry. I'm NOT!"
"I only met him once before today," Skalany said soothingly. "My first impression was that women were not too high on his list, but he IS a good cop."
Kacie returned to the sink and once more splashed her face with water. Toweling dry a second time, she looked up at Skalany and asked, "So you don't like him, either?"
The detective chose her words carefully. "Let's just say I'm glad he was never MY partner. I either would have killed him, or been so busy fighting him off, I wouldn't have had time for criminals." She paused and grinned. "You ready to go back now?"
"I don't know...how do I look?" The face she presented was blotchy, and her eyes still showed signs of recent tears.
"Compared to what?"
Kacie smiled wanly and took a deep, steadying breath. "Loan me a brush and let me get myself together. You go on back. I'll be out in a minute. Maybe by that time I can force myself to be civil and fight back the urge to break a beer bottle over somebody's head!"
Skalany returned to her spot at the table next to Caine, and winked in response to Peter's questioning eyes. He visibly relaxed, and the worried frown left his face.
Paul watched the interplay without comment, and then eyed Epstein appraisingly. The man had always been a bit abrasive, and tact would never be his middle name, but he had been one of the precinct's best. He had prevented Peter from getting himself killed more than once. Paul wondered if Eppy had succumbed to the temptation that had felled more than one good officer: coping with the stresses and pressures of the job and life in general from the bottom of a bottle.
Epstein caught his former captain staring at him and asked point blank, "Somethin' on your mind, Paul?"
Blaisdell allowed a slow smile to form over his craggy features. "Just wondering what your plans were while you're in town and where you were staying."
The suspicious frown left Eppy's face and he responded offhandedly. "Aw, I got a motel room lined up. Hadn't really made any definite plans to speak of. Why?"
"Save your money. Annie and I have plenty of room now that the kids are gone. You're welcome to stay with us as long as you like."
Eppy looked as surprised as nearly everyone else at the table. "Well..."
Paul laughed heartily. "Epstein, I have never known you to be at a loss for words in all the years I've known you. I may have to write this one down on the calendar."
In the general laughter that went up around the table, Epstein looked at Paul appreciatively and said, "Well then, Paul, I guess you got yourself a new boarder at the Blaisdell Bed and Breakfast." Finishing the drink in the glass before him, he ordered another before getting up and wandering off in the direction of the bathrooms.
"So, Peter, I was just telling Kacie about the case we had with Stella and the Green Hornet the last time Eppy was around," Skalany reported innocently.
"You didn't." He stared at her accusingly as his face reddened at the remembrance of his naked crazy man performance in the back room at the bakery.
"You're right. No, I didn't. Not yet anyway. What's it worth to ya for me to keep my mouth shut, Partner?"
"Well, since the chances of THAT are slim to none, I will just save my money. But so help me Skalany, if you open your big mouth and tell her anything about that, I'll..."
"You'll what?" she dared him with a superior air.
"Let's just say that there's a story or two that I could tell my father, like the time that you..."
"OK, truce." Her grin was immediately gone and she looked worried. "I keep my mouth shut and you do the same. Deal?"
The two solemnly shook hands and Caine's eyes started to twinkle as he watched. He had been concerned for some time about Peter's reaction to his blossoming relationship with Detective Skalany, but the light-hearted banter between the two seemed to show that Peter was becoming more accepting of the idea. A half smile played about his lips as he thought of how his daughter-in-law was more than likely responsible for some of his son's new attitude. Suddenly, he sat up a little more alertly and turned his head, as though listening to something. He silently rose and headed for the bathrooms.
Epstein stumbled into Kacie just as she was coming around the corner. He grabbed at her arms to steady himself before deliberately sliding his hands over her breasts.
She recoiled from his touch, remembering another such scene at another time and place. A look of utter revulsion swept over her face. "Get your hands off me!" she snapped, and backed away.
He held up both hands defensively and looked at her blearily through an alcoholic haze. "Whatsa matter with you?" he demanded. "You been lookin' at me like I had two heads all night long." He started to advance toward her, and she shrank away from him.
"Let me by," she hissed angrily. "You're drunk!"
"That I am," he agreed almost cheerfully. "That..I...am. But I don't see any reason why we can't be friends." He reached for her. By now he had backed her against a wall, and real fear flashed across her face as his took on the expression of a carnivore identifying its prey. Again, she was reminded of that time in her college days when a similar drunken face had leered at her, and unwelcomed hands had reached out to touch.
"Get away from me," she commanded, first deflecting his hand, and then shoving both her hands against his chest, forcing him to lose his balance once again.
Epstein's face darkened, and Kacie thought for a moment that he was going to strike her.
A gentle baritone broke in. "Is everything...all right...Kacie?"
She fled in the direction of the voice and slipped into the solid and protecting arms of her father-in-law.
Caine studied Epstein with an unfathomable stare. The drunken man muttered something under his breath and slunk into the men's room.
Kacie hid her face against Caine's chest gratefully. "Don't you ever get tired of rescuing me?" she asked shakily. Just like that other time, an unexpected champion had stepped out of the shadows to send the face and the hands away.
Caine kissed the top of her head and answered softly, "I will...always be happy to rescue you. But, please...do not...make a habit of this."
"Thanks," she whispered, and kissed his cheek. "Walk me back to my table, Mister?"
Caine smiled at her, and answered in his Bogart imitation, "It would be my pleasure, Sweetheart."