The Case of the Jilted First Secretary by Frank W. Butterfield

Author:Frank W. Butterfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Frank W. Butterfield
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Fireside musing.

1198 Sacramento Street

San Francisco, Cal.

Thursday, November 25, 1954

Close to midnight

Nick was pouting on the Chesterfield.

"Come to bed, son," urged Carter.

"Why won't you tell me what this is all about?"

"It's personal and we need to give Ferdinand room to breathe. They're all confined downstairs in that little space. The least we can do is give him his privacy when he asks for it."

Nick sighed. "I guess you're right. I just feel like you're keeping something from me."

Carter was tempted to tell Nick the whole thing right then and there.

I'll have a clearer mind in the morning.

And he was right. A good night's sleep would make it easier to tell Nick and Mike everything when they got to the office.

Nick turned to look over at the bed. "What are you keeping from me, Chief?"

"It's just what I told you. Ferdinand talked to me in confidence." None of that was a lie.

Nick stared at him for a long moment and then finally stood and walked over to the bed. He leaned against the bedpost and broke into a grin. "Does this qualify as a fight?"

Carter grinned back. "If we get to have make-up sex, then, hell, yeah, it does."

. . .

An hour later, it was finally over. Usually, Carter never had any trouble doing for Nick what Nick wanted done, but on that night...

Things had gotten easier when Carter had told himself that the point was to make Nick happy. As soon as that thought formed in his mind, suddenly everything shifted into gear and the train started steaming down the track.

Carter leaned over and kissed Nick on the back of his neck. "G'night, Boss."

Nick replied, "Mmm," and then was out.

Carter carefully slid off the bed and walked over to the fire where he sat down on the floor and crossed his legs. The blaze on the hearth was about halfway through its natural life, so there was nothing to do other than to maybe move some of the embers around a little. Which Carter did with the poker.

As he gazed into the dancing flames, he thought about the waves he'd seen down around Carmel. The ocean and a fire had a lot in common. As much as you might think you could predict what each would do, you would more than likely be wrong. Carter loved that about waves and flames. They danced and bobbed and weaved around like the most skillful boxer you could imagine. You never knew where the next one would go—a flame, a wave, or a fist.

Thinking of fists reminded Carter of Ferdinand.

Why doesn't he want me to say anything to Nick? Does he know what it would do to Consolidated Security and all their lives if anyone found out about Mike filing a false report?

That couldn't be it. Sam had said Ferdinand didn't know much about any of that.

Then why? What was Ferdinand doing?

Carter watched the flames dance and bob and weave for a long while. He thought about how intertwined their lives—his and Nick's—had quickly become with so many people.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.