by Albert Simon
Charles came walking out helping the older gentlemen to his car. “I’m taking them to dinner at the casino Henry; I won’t be home until late.”
“Ok, Charles, thanks for letting us know.” Henry turned to look at Gloria. “Come on sweetie; let’s go home, I’m getting hungry.”
“Ok, I’m ready. Let us know if we will see you later Wayne.” Gloria reached over to give Wayne a hug and kissed his cheek.
“I’ll call you about dinner after I check in at the station.” Wayne said.
Henry and Gloria walked out to his car. The late afternoon breeze had come up and while it was still warm, it was very pleasant. It’s like a hairdryer on medium heat, Gloria had remarked. Not too hot, not too windy, just good enough to take the wrinkles out of your clothes. “I hate to tell you this, but we don’t have any shrimp in the refrigerator.” Henry said opening her door.
“I know, but I really don’t feel like going out to dinner so that’s why I said that. I figured we could run out to Jensen’s and get some shrimp and some garlic bread. Do you like asparagus?”
Henry couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I like asparagus.”
“Great, a friend in Sonora taught me this wonderful recipe with asparagus, a red onion and Portobello mushrooms. It’s to die for. Do you have any olive oil and Italian herb mix?”
Henry started the car. “I know I have olive oil, I’m sure we have some Italian herbs in the spice cabinet. It sounds good, let’s go.”
Forty minutes later they were home and changed into comfortable clothes. Henry turned on the grill and Gloria started chopping up the onion, asparagus and mushrooms. Henry turned on the oven for the garlic bread and opened a bottle of wine. He poured them both a glass and kissed Gloria as he handed her the wine. She put down the knife and kissed him back. Just then the phone rang.
“Henry, its Wayne.”
“Hi, Wayne.” Henry looked over at Gloria who was nodding her head and mouthing that it was fine and waving her hand to invite Wayne to come over.
“Elliot is out tonight at a fund raiser for the nursing home where her mother used to live. Is it ok if I come over for dinner?”
“Yes, of course, come on by. We’ll throw another shrimp on the barbie for you.”
“Funny, I remember that commercial. But this time it fits. I’ve got some news for you. It can wait until I get there.” Wayne hung up the phone.
The Palm Springs Police Station is near the International airport, only about three miles from Henry’s house on Mel Avenue. Wayne rang the doorbell fifteen minutes after his telephone conversation with Henry. Gloria had the mixture of onions, asparagus and mushrooms ready for the broiler and Henry had put the shrimp on skewers to grill as soon as Wayne arrived. Gloria handed Wayne a glass of wine, and he tossed his sport coat on the couch before sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen counter.
“We found Cherie Gregory.” He said, taking a big sip of the wine.
“Really, where?” Henry and Gloria said in unison.
Wayne couldn’t help but laugh at them. “You guys are scary. You’re starting to talk alike.”
Henry and Gloria laughed as well. “Where did you find her?”
“She was picked up last night for drunk driving in Pomona. She’s in their holding tank. She was due to be released in a few hours, but we’re sending someone over to pick her up.”
“What are you going to hold her on?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe I can charge her with possession of an unlicensed firearm.” Wayne shrugged his shoulders.
“So you guys found her gun. Did she have it on her when she was stopped?” Henry asked.
“Well, no, we didn’t find it. It wasn’t on the list of personal items in the inventory that they faxed to us.”
“Then how can you charge her with possession?”
“I don’t know. I think I need a little more wine.” Wayne held his empty glass out for Gloria to refill.
“When does she get here?” Henry asked.
Wayne looked at his watch. “Another three hours? I’m not sure. The cop that was driving to Pomona left when I walked out of the station to come over here. Ninety minutes to get there, half an hour for pleasantries with their cops, an hour-and-a-half back. What’s that, three-and-a-half hours?”
“Are you going back to the station after dinner to talk with her?” Henry asked.
“After drinking all the wine I’m planning to consume this evening? Are you kidding? I can question her tomorrow. I’m going to call Elliot and tell her that I’m going to crash on your couch. I’m assuming that’s ok with you.” To demonstrate that he didn’t want to go back to work, Wayne took another drink of his wine.
“You can have the guest room, no need to sleep on the couch.” Gloria said as she smiled at Henry.
“Great, I think I’ve used that room more than anybody else.” Wayne either didn’t notice that Gloria wasn’t staying in Henry’s guest room or he assumed all along that she would be with him.
“What was Cherie doing in Pomona?” Henry asked.
“According to Pomona PD, she claims that she was looking for Todd. There’s a theatre school in Pomona that he wants to attend. She figured that she could find him there. Why she didn’t just call us and ask us to check if he was there I don’t know.”
“I do, she’s worried some trigger happy cop will blow his brains out, she wanted to go out and find him on her own, before you guys did.” Henry told Wayne.
“Perhaps, anyway when she didn’t find him she went into a local bar to drown her sorrows. PD picked her up as she was driving away from the bar.”
“Hmmm, and you said she didn’t have the gun?” Henry wondered where it could be. He didn’t even know how long it had been missing. Maybe Cherie wasn’t lying.
“Henry, while you guys are talking, would you put the shrimp on the grill? I was hungry before, I’m ravenous now.” Gloria picked up the tray with the asparagus mixture and put it in the oven.
“Ok, they won’t take but a few minutes, I’ll be right back.” Henry picked up the tray with the skewered shrimp and went out to the patio. When he walked back in eight minutes later he was greeted with the smell of garlic bread and the broiled asparagus mixture. He set the plate with the ends of the wooden skewers blackened and the shrimp nice and pink on the counter.
They opened another bottle of wine and sat down to dinner at the kitchen counter. Henry and Wayne told Gloria the story of their first meeting in an FBI class in Quantico, Virginia, when Henry had just become chief of police in Eagle River and Wayne had recently been promoted to the detective ranks. They reminisced and laughed about some of their instructors and while Henry said he had enjoyed all of the training, he was glad that he didn’t have to go through it again.
After dinner Wayne called Elliot on her cell phone and told her he was crashing at Henry and Gloria’s house. When Henry overheard him say that, he smiled. Gloria had been accepted by his friends and was completely integrated into his life. He knew that the only call that he still needed to make was to Claire, his daughter, who didn’t know how serious he was about Gloria yet. That call might be a little more difficult and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
Wayne was still sleeping the next morning as Henry swam his laps. Gloria started the coffeepot and sat on the chaise lounge in her robe watching his easy rhythmic swimming. She had a cup of coffee waiting for him when he climbed out of the pool.
“Did you think any more about who did it during your swim?” Gloria asked him as he took the first sip of the hot coffee.
He smiled at her. “No, I was thinking about you, me, and that conversation that we’re going to have.”
“I’d like to do that soon. Can we have a quiet dinner tonight? I’d like to go somewhere away from cell phones, housemates and Glocks?”
“I’ll make reservations when the restaurant opens. We’ll have a quiet evening, just the two of us and I’ll leave the weapon at home.”
“Henry, I didn
’t mean it that way. I know that it is a tool for your job, it’s just that when you strap that thing on, it’s like you’re working. You don’t seem as relaxed and loving when you’re armed.”
“I’m sorry; I’ve been trying to be very discrete about carrying it.”
“Henry, I’m getting to know you pretty well sometimes when you get into that concentrating work mode it’s a real turn on, like when you were studying the tram car when we came down the mountain the other day. Other times you’re distracted and you’re not really yourself, just like at the zoo the other day. Tonight I want it to be you and I and no outside influences. Deal?”
“You’ve got a deal. Maybe now that Cherie Gregory has been locked up, there’s less need to carry it.”
“No, I think that as long as you’re looking into this murder you should be armed. Todd Gregory is still out there somewhere, and he’s carrying a big gun.” Gloria stood up and kissed Henry on top of his head. “Where are we going tonight?”
Henry stood up and put his arms around Gloria. “Thank you for looking out for me, it makes me feel good. Tonight, we’re going to L.G.’s Steakhouse on Palm Canyon Drive, have you heard of it?”
“No, but I’m looking forward to good food but more important, good conversation with the man that I love.” With her arm around Henry she walked with him through the French doors into his bedroom.
Wayne was gone when they walked out into the kitchen. The dry erase board on the refrigerator that Henry and Charles used to write messages to one another read simply, “Thanks, I’ll call you later, Wayne.” Charles wasn’t up yet, it must have been a late night for him.
They were both dressed in shorts and loose shirts and lightweight hiking boots. Henry grabbed a brimmed sun hat from the closet near the front door and asked Gloria if she had brought anything to keep the sun off her head. She said she had a baseball cap and went back to the bedroom to get it from the bag that she had not completely unpacked.
Henry had decided not to take Gloria’s truck and they left it in the garage. He drove down Avenida Caballeros to Tahquitz Canyon. He made the right on the broad four lane, palm tree lined street and he pulled into the parking lot at Sherman’s Deli and Bakery. Millie, Henry’s regular waitress greeted both of them like old friends, she said she had already heard all about Gloria from Wayne.
This time Henry had the bagels and lox with capers that he used to get all the time. Gloria opted for the healthy omelet made with Eggbeaters. They had more coffee, which Millie kept in generous supply. After fortifying themselves, they set off for Joshua Tree National Park. Henry had been there a few times before, once when Claire came out to Palm Springs for a visit. Claire hadn’t liked the park, she said it was bleak and drab with nothing there, just desert. Henry saw it the other way, he saw the creosote bushes and the cholla cactus gardens and was awed by the way that they thrived in the harsh environment. He couldn’t wait to see Gloria’s reaction.
There were two ways to get into the park, Henry decided to take the southern entrance and headed to Interstate 10 on Vista Chino. That way they could loop through the park and come out on the northern side and take Highway 62 back to Palm Springs through Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley.
He got on the Interstate with its busy truck traffic eastbound towards Arizona. They had to drive for quite a while and after nearly forty-five minutes he got off the highway at Cottonwood Spring Road. After a mile or so they entered the National Park and paid the nominal entrance fee. They continued their drive and the road started winding as it climbed up.
Suddenly, at the 3,000 foot level the human like forms of the Joshua trees, with their arms raised as though they were being held up in this outlaw country, were everywhere. Gloria was amazed at the resilient beauty of the Joshua tree and its dead leaf covered trunk as they lifted their multiple arms towards the heavens. She told Henry they looked like apostles praying to the gods and all they needed were robes to make the picture complete.
They rounded another turn and the scenery was spectacular. Large red boulders, with cracks and fissures the size that a person could squeeze through came into view. Gloria gasped. She insisted that Henry stop the car and she pulled her small camera out of her purse and walked around taking pictures for the next twenty minutes. Nothing escaped her lens. Cholla cactus, Yuccas, Joshua trees, and the rusty rocks that looked as though they were a child’s set of giant marbles piled into impossibly high stacks.
Henry smiled as he watched Gloria clamber about. He was glad that she liked this surreal area; he was very attached to it himself and always enjoyed coming here. Certainly there was nothing near Eagle River that remotely resembled it, he smiled again and thought this area looked more like Mars than Wisconsin.
They got back into the car and drove a short distance to the Cottonwood Springs Visitor’s Center. They parked there, and Henry took the Glock’s holster off and put it in the trunk. From the trunk he picked up his small day pack, loaded with their water bottles and some snack bars and put his arms through the straps. They slathered some sunscreen on their exposed skin, put their hats on and followed the markers to set off for the Lost Palms Oasis. The sandy trail wound through the desert and soon it appeared to them as though they were miles from civilization and far from the visitor’s center and car, neither of which was visible.
They walked and walked and at every ridge they expected to see the oasis, but they only saw more ridges. They met two other hikers coming back after they passed the third mile post; the man said they didn’t have too much farther to go. The lizards, who were basking in the sun like starlets around a Hollywood swimming pool, were everywhere. One scampered across the trail nearly running across Gloria’s foot, who gave a delighted giggle.
Suddenly they were in the oasis. Clusters and clusters of tall palms were rooted in the sandy bottom. Gloria started counting the trees and stopped when she was close to one hundred. There weren’t any pools of water this time of the year, but a large boot print in the sand showed there was water not too far under the surface. Henry looked around for the bighorn sheep that frequented the oasis, he had seen them on a previous hike but they weren’t there today.
They drank more of their water while they sat together on a large rock and each of them ate a snack bar. Gloria said she felt like one of the lizards and stretched out her legs, took off her cap, shook her hair and turned her face towards the sun. She took more pictures and when her film ran out they reluctantly turned around and hiked back out. They didn’t meet any people hiking to the oasis until they were nearly back at the parking lot. Henry told the hikers that they had quite a hike ahead of them but that it was worth the trip.
Back at the car they opened all four doors, and a blast of hot air came out to greet them. They sat down on the edge of the seat, both of them were wet with perspiration and Henry suggested they go back over to the Visitor’s Center to refill their water bottles. Gloria agreed and soon they were back in the air conditioned building looking at the pictures in the Center’s display of what they had just seen in the Oasis and agreed that while the photographs were well done, they didn’t do the real thing justice.
They continued on the main road through the park and drove out towards State Highway 62 in search of lunch. Gloria asked if they could come back soon, she was looking at the park’s brochure they received at the entrance station and saw several more short hikes she would like to make. Henry said he was glad she liked the place as much as he did, he was happy to come back here with her at any time.
Their options for meals in the town of Twentynine Palms looked to be limited to every brand of fast food place imaginable. It was obvious that this town was the gateway of the Marine base where thousands of nineteen year old kids practiced their craft and came into town for a fixing of junk food afterwards.
Gloria spotted the Jubilee Café, right on the highway and they took a chance, at least it wasn’t pre-cooked, packaged food. The place was filled with rock climbers finishing their lunch and Henry and
Gloria didn’t feel at all out of place in their dusty boots and sweaty clothes as they ordered a couple of tall lemonades.
Chapter 14
The waitress brought them their sandwiches as she refilled their lemonades.
“I can’t help but wonder if Dos Gregory ever ate here.” Henry said in between bites.
“Funny, I was thinking a similar sort of thing as we came down that hill before we turned onto the highway. Did Dos ever drive this road?” Gloria stopped chewing long enough to talk with Henry. That long hike had made them both hungry.
“Do you suppose he ever brought Todd here for lunch?” Henry took another drink of the lemonade.
“From what I hear, Dos was more the fast food kind of guy, I doubt that he would have taken his son here.” Gloria answered. “You know, this is either the best lemonade I have ever had or it just really hits the spot after that hike.”
“It is good, but I think it was the hike that makes it better. You know, you got some sun out there, you have a couple of freckles around your nose that I never noticed before.” Henry looked across at Gloria. With her hat hair, rumpled shirt, dusty shorts and freckles he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
