The Childish Churl (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 15)

by Frank W. Butterfield

  "Captain," I said with a grin.

  She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm sorry I missed Alex and Marnie's wedding last year. It would have been nice to have met you all back then."

  "Did you get a chance to catch up with Mr. Veladier?"

  She nodded. "He's quite a character. I learned a lot from working for him in the summers." She looked at me for a moment. "This was quite a day. I'm glad the children will be with Alex and Marnie but I would have been just as happy if they could have stayed here. I think you would make an excellent father. You both would." She shook her head. "I've never seen kids take to someone like they took to you."

  I nodded. I didn't know what to say.

  She added, "Maybe some day it will be like that."

  "Yeah. I hope so."

  . . .

  It was a little after 9 when we piled into bed that night.

  All of the staff had left. Gustav and Ferdinand were driving down to L.A. in a car Ferdinand had rented. Nora and Ida were on the train heading to Chicago. Mrs. Kopek and Mrs. Strakova had taken the train down to San Jose to spend a few days with a mutual Czechoslovakian friend who lived down there. After that, they were planning on taking a bus down to Monterey and spending the rest of the week there, exploring the area and going down to Big Sur.

  The house felt empty even though Jimmy was in my room and his parents were up on the third floor. Peggy had moved across the street to take up residence with Aunt Velma.

  As Carter finished building the fire in the hearth, I watched him. All the lights were out in the bedroom. Only the street lamps in Huntington Park offered any illumination, apart from the fire. The night was chilly but, as always, we had the windows open.

  I loved to watch Carter build a fire. I figured only someone trained to put out fires could really understand how to make one start in the first place. Besides, watching the movement of his muscles in the firelight was mesmerizing.

  He broke up some bits of kindling and threw them on top of the already roaring blaze. He stood, turned, and moved towards the bed, pulling off his BVDs and dropping them on the floor. Crawling into the bed from the far end, he pulled up next to me and stretched out. He sighed contentedly and said, "What a day."

  I put my head on his chest and nodded. "It sure was."

  "What about this case?"

  I chuckled. "What case?"

  "Mr. Grossman."

  "I know. What case?"

  Carter sighed. "This is going to be another one of them, isn't it?"

  "Hey! That's my line."

  "I know," said Carter. "I just thought I would beat you to it."

  "Mike told me the cops were keeping it under wraps for national security reasons."

  "What does that mean?"

  I sighed. "I don't know. It was what the sergeant at the Mission station told him."

  "Is the Bureau involved?"

  "Dunno."

  Carter said, "It's frustrating. Why do these things keep happening?"

  "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but they're not that frequent. We just got in the middle of this one. This one really is for the cops to solve."

  "Who do you think did it?"

  I sighed. "Probably Mrs. Grossman."

  "What about Alicia? Do you think she's playing us?"

  "I keep wondering about that. I don't know."

  "What about Lord whoozit?"

  I laughed. "Mike says that Walter confirms he is who he says he is. We're definitely hiring Mrs. Dewey. Mike's got some of the guys lined up to keep an eye on her."

  Carter started rubbing my shoulder. "That's good."

  I nodded. I could feel myself nodding off. As I was about to do so, I heard Carter ask, "Did you ever want kids when you were younger?"

  I roused myself and thought for a moment. "No. I figured there were enough hateful Williams bastards without me bringing any more into the world. Besides, although I knew where babies came from, I had no desire to explore the mechanics."

  Carter laughed. Running his hand through my hair, he said, "I thought I might want kids. But that meant getting married. That was never going to happen."

  I said, "For a brief moment, I thought we might get four kids today."

  "Yeah."

  "But maybe this is what Marnie wanted, after all."

  "I don't know about that."

  I sat up and looked down at Carter. "Really?"

  He nodded. "I talked to her about it. She still wants to work."

  I shrugged. "I'm sure we can work something out."

  "That's what I told her. But I also suggested she not work for a while. Give that a try."

  I said, "That's reasonable."

  He looked at me for a long moment. "You want her to work, don't you?"

  I laughed. "Yes. As long as she works for me." I traced my finger through his chest hair.

  He grinned. "She's as much a part of our company as anyone else."

  I had a sudden thought. "All three of us need to give her five percent each." Mike was a forty percent owner in the company. Carter and I had thirty percent each.

  He smiled. "I'd happily do that."

  "Provided she comes back to work."

  He narrowed his eyes at me. "You're not going to use that as an inducement, are you?"

  I shook my head. "No. But if she does decide to come back to work, then we have to do that."

  Carter reached up and brushed the tips of his fingers against my cheek. That always made me shudder.

  I said, "Now, about this hotel stuff."

  Carter grinned at me in the firelight and described what he had in mind. I laughed as I listened. It was going to be a while before we got to sleep and I was fine with that.

  Chapter 26

  Aboard The Flirtatious Captain

  San Francisco Bay

  Wednesday, October 19, 1955

  Just before noon

  "Well, what do you think about all this?" I looked at Peggy as we stood on the aft deck of the ship. The City was receding as Captain O'Reilly was heading towards Sausalito.

  She nodded. "It's beautiful."

  "Even in this drizzle?" The sky was gray and a light rain was falling. It was more like a mist. And it was one of my favorite kinds of weather.

  "Yes. I've never been anywhere that looks so lovely no matter the time of day or night or the kind of weather." She took a deep breath. "I feel like my life has changed and it will never be the same."

  Carter, who was standing on my right, said, "I'm glad you decided to come out with us today."

  "Yeah," I added.

  She smiled up at Carter. "Thanks. I had such a headache but whatever Mrs. Williams takes has really done the trick."

  I asked, "Have you heard from Bobby since he got home?"

  She crossed her arms and shook her head. "And I don't expect to. Not until I walk in the front door and start packing. But, knowing him, he'll either sulk or just run off and go somewhere else."

  Neither of us replied as we watched a barge move behind the ship. It was piled with tires and some sort of heavy machinery. As it moved by, the trail of black smoke that had emerged from its smokestack settled around us. We all covered our faces and tried to wave the stuff away. After half a minute or so the sea breeze had cleared it away.

  . . .

  "Oh, Marnie, that little dress is just darlin'." That was Michelle. Carter and I were strolling behind Marnie, Michelle, and Peggy as they led the four Chapman kids and Jimmy along Bridgeway, the main drag which wound through Sausalito. Once we were docked at the marina, we had all headed into town. Alex and Kenneth had made a beeline for a cigar store Alex liked. The gals had wanted to do a little bit of shopping. We'd tagged along.

  They had stopped to look at the windows of a children's clothing store. The dress in question was velvet and was a dark red with dark green trim. Michelle said, "It would be perfect for Christmas."

  It seemed to me that the middle of October was a little early, but Peggy and Marnie had agreed on it and,
before I knew it, they had pulled poor Tricia in with them, leaving the boys out on the sidewalk with us.

  Jimmy looked up at me. "Where to, Uncle Nick?"

  As we'd walked over to Bridgeway from the marina, I'd already spied a couple of places I wanted to stop in at. I pointed about half a block down and said, "There's a model train shop that looks interesting."

  Ronnie's eyes got wide. "Model trains? I have one of those..." He looked down at the sidewalk.

  Carter squatted down in front of the kid and asked, "What kind is it?"

  "O gauge. Daddy liked that kind because it's easier to put together than the smaller kind."

  Mike tugged on Carter's sleeve. "Uncle Carter? I need to go to the bathroom."

  I thumbed at the clothing store. "Take him in there and we'll meet you at the train store."

  Carter pulled Mike into his arms and stood. "See you in a minute."

  As they disappeared into the store, I said, "Let's go look at some trains."

  We started walking down the sidewalk and, after a minute, Johnny looked up at me and asked, "What were you and Daddy talking about when we saw you last week?"

  Ronnie shoved his brother. "I told you not to ask about that."

  Johnny shoved back. "I can ask about what I want."

  "No, you can't."

  "Yes, I can."

  I said, "OK, enough, you two."

  They both stopped.

  "He was asking me about a place where you could have lunch." I suddenly realized what a mistake it had been to visit Sausalito. The Rexall two blocks down was where I'd suggested they eat.

  "You did?" asked Johnny.

  I nodded, hoping to change the subject. "Do you—"

  "Daddy said you asked him for a pick-up. Isn't that a truck?"

  I put my stone face on. I wondered how it would work with kids.

  Ronnie shoved his brother again. "That's not a truck. A truck is a pick-em-up truck. A pick-up is somethin' else."

  "No, it isn't," said Johnny.

  Jimmy said, "My daddy calls those pick-ups. I've never heard of a pick-em-up truck."

  Seizing the opening, I said, "We can ask Uncle Carter, but I think some people in the South call 'em pick-em-up trucks."

  Johnny looked up at me. "Is Jimmy a damn Yankee?"

  I grinned and said, "Yeah. But you should be glad that your Aunt Marnie isn't here. She would have washed your mouth out with soap."

  Ronnie shook his head. "No she wouldn't."

  "No?" I asked.

  By that time we were just outside the model train shop.

  "No. But she told us if we ever talked like that in front of Miss Lettie that we should expect a cake of Ivory soap and not to fight because it only makes it worse."

  Trying not to laugh, I looked at Johnny, who was nodding in agreement.

  "Well," I said as I opened the door of the store, "I would suggest you listen to your Aunt Marnie because she would know."

  We all walked into the store, which was piled to the ceiling with model trains of all kinds. Jimmy and Johnny both ran over to a huge model town built along one wall. Ronnie stayed with me and said, "I don't think Miss Lettie is mean at all. I like her."

  I nodded. "I like her, too. Do you wanna see the train over there? The one with smoke coming out of it?"

  Ronnie looked over, said, "Sure," and then looked back at me. He obviously had something on his mind.

  I squatted down and adjusted his blue windbreaker. As I did so, he asked, "Is Miss Lettie your mother?"

  I nodded. "She's my stepmother. Her husband, Dr. Williams, is my father."

  "So Aunt Marnie is your sister?"

  "stepsister."

  He repeated the word. "stepsister." Looking thoughtful, he asked, "So, is Uncle Carter your brother? Or is he your stepbrother?"

  I swallowed. "He's neither. He's my good friend."

  "What did Daddy mean when he said you asked him for a pick-up?" He looked at me closely. "It wasn't nice, was it?"

  I cleared my throat, wishing to hell that Carter would appear out of thin air and take over. He was obviously much better at all that kind of stuff than I was. "Well, your father and I had a kind of fight. So, when he said that, he was mad at me."

  Ronnie thought for a moment. In a whisper, he said, "Mommy told me that you were the nicest man she knew and that we should do anything you told us to do." He frowned. "So does that mean my Daddy was a bad man? If you had a fight with him?"

  I shook my head. "Sometimes people disagree without anyone being good or bad." I had a thought. "Like you and Johnny. You argue but neither of you is good or bad. You just disagree. See what I mean?"

  Ronnie nodded. He thought for another moment. "I heard that lady from the Army talking to Aunt Marnie about what happened."

  "You did?" I started sweating right then.

  "Yes. She said that Daddy got real mad at Mommy and that's why they're gone." He frowned. "Mommy always told me to pray to Jesus whenever I was afraid. She said Jesus was in heaven. Do you think Mommy and Daddy are with Jesus?"

  I nodded. "Yes, I do." My legs were beginning to hurt and I wanted to push the kid over to the model train where Johnny and Jimmy stood entranced.

  Ronnie sighed. He turned and looked at his brother and Jimmy. Whispering again, he said, "I like Jimmy but he talks funny."

  I grinned. "That's how people who live in Boston talk. He probably thinks you talk funny, too."

  Ronnie grinned. "I hope Jimmy and me stay friends after he goes home."

  "I'm sure you will. You can always write him letters."

  Nodding, the kid said, "Yes. And then, when we're grown up, we can be friends just like you and Uncle Carter."

  I stood and said, "That could happen. You never know."

  "Can I go play now?"

  I laughed. "Knock yourself out."

  He hugged me tight around the waist and whispered, "I love you, Uncle Nick."

  I patted his head and said, "I love you, too, kid."

  He ran off just as the front door opened. Carter walked in, holding Mike in his left arm. Putting the kid down, he patted him on the back and said, "Go see what your brothers are up to." Mike ran over to where the other three kids were asking the shop owner about the cars and the buildings and the real-life waterfall that cascaded down hillside above the town.

  Looking down at me, Carter asked, "How'd it go on your own?"

  I grinned. "We had one shoving match."

  "Not bad."

  "Yeah. And Ronnie wanted to know if you were my brother."

  "Almost. What'd you say?"

  "That we're really good friends. He told me that he hopes that he and Jimmy grow up to be good friends just like us."

  Carter grinned. "I hope they're that lucky."

  . . .

  Once we were all back on the ship, I pulled Marnie aside in the lounge and asked, "Doll, do you think we should head back over?"

  She frowned. "Why, Nick?"

  "Ronnie was asking me about the day I met his father."

  She said, "That is one smart kid."

  "Yeah. I was gonna take them all to the Rexall but then I remembered that's where I'd suggested they could go for lunch that day."

  Marnie's eyes opened wide. "Oh, yeah. I see what you mean." She shrugged. "I don't know. Let's ask Michelle."

  I nodded. "Good idea. A real parent should know."

  Marnie giggled. "Oh, Nick."

  . . .

  "My mother, bless her heart, would say we should avoid the bridge, avoid the color orange, and never mention the parents." That was Michelle. We were standing on the aft deck.

  Peggy nodded. "My mother would say the same thing."

  Marnie sighed. "My mother would have those kids tossing flowers off the side of the bridge right where it happened."

  Michelle and Peggy looked mildly alarmed at that.

  I said, "She's right. Lettie marches in and just tells everyone how it's gonna be. It's something else." I thought for a moment. "Of course,
I didn't grow up with her, but whenever she's forced me to deal with something, like the ladies in our old neighborhood after everything was in the papers, she was right. It all worked out."

  Marnie crossed her arms. "It helped that Carter is gorgeous and all those ladies fell in love with him on the spot that day." Looking at Michelle and Peggy, she added, "Some of them still ask me how he's doing and whether he's come to his senses or not. I just shrug and change the subject." She made a wry face. "Michelle? What do you think?"

  She took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "Well..." She turned to Marnie and asked, "Why not ask them?"

  Marnie pulled back in surprise and then giggled. "Of course."

  . . .

  Tricia pointed up at the bridge span as we passed underneath it. "Are those the men who do the painting?"

  I looked up at where she was pointing. There were two guys in overalls who were examining something. They were standing on the sidewalk and leaning over the rail to see it. "No. They're probably working on something else." I looked around for the tell-tale safety nets. Not seeing any, I said, "I don't think anyone is painting today. Usually they have nets in case one of them falls."

  Tricia made a noise and looked at me with wide eyes. "They don't fall, do they?" We were sitting on one of the benches that lined the top deck. She peered cautiously over the backside of the bench and down at the green water below. "Is the water cold?"

  "Yeah. I used to try to swim in it, when I was a kid. It's really cold. Even when it's hot outside."

  "Oh," she said and looked up at the bridge. We were now on the far side of it and Captain O'Reilly was starting his slow circle to take us back under again and head towards the marina where the yacht was docked. She was standing on the bench. I had my arm around her waist to keep her steady as the ship swayed from side to side.

  As the ship made its way, she looked around at the gray sky and the seagulls. After a moment, she yawned and put a finger in her nose. Without saying anything, I gently pulled it away and asked, "Are you ready for a nap?"

  She nodded and crawled onto my lap. The plan had been to take her below deck where the boys were taking their naps. But she curled up where she was and went right to sleep.