As the Eagle Flies. J. D. Oliver

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СКАЧАТЬ a dark haired brunette. Alita stared at her. So did I. “What, what did you do?” I said.

      “I had it dyed, do you like it?” She said. Now my Mother didn’t raise any idiots.

      “Yeah, I think I do,” I said. “But, you’re sort of mismatched aren’t you?” I said.

      “I already thought about that,” she said, holding up a small box, “this dye is made especially for pubic hair, will you help me with it tonight?”

      “Sure, I guess so. But why did you want to dye your hair?” I asked.

      “Cause. You know, maybe you don’t; but I was a blond with Theodore. I want to forget about him, not that I haven’t, but, this is my new life, the only thing I want to remind me of him is Alita. Are you sure you like it?”

      “Yes, I definitely do. It makes you look not only sexy; but deadly so. I could almost call you Elmira. Wow! Too bad Alita isn’t asleep.”

      “Oh, that can wait, we have all of our lives to look forward to.” She said, as she kissed me and plastered herself against me. She untangled herself, then sighed and said, “I guess I had better tell you the truth; I was never a natural blond. I’m sorry if I deceived you. Are you mad at me?”

      “No, of course not. I fell in love with you; not the color of your hair.” I said, kissing the nape of her neck. She moaned a little bit, then said,

      “Honey, you had better stop that; Alita is staring at us.” I pulled back, not because of what she said, but because our phone was ringing.

      It was Cort, “Sorry to disturb you,” He said, “but the inquest was put on fast forward, it’s this afternoon, can the two of you make it?”

      “Sure, no problem, but we’ll have to bring Alita with us; we don’t have a baby sitter. Will that be Okay? I said.

      “I don’t know why not, that’ll be a good touch anyway. That Dipper Tick made bail for Delbert Washington; even though it was set at five hundred thousand. I half way hope he jumps bail; we could use the money.”

      “Will they be at the inquest?” I asked.

      “I don’t know why they would; it’s just a coroner’s inquest. I’m sure after they see the video from the patrol car there won’t be any doubt as to the rightness of the kills.” Cort said. He added. “I’m sure you will be cleared; then you won’t have to stick around any longer, that is if you don’t want to.”

      “Yeah, we’ll see, thanks a lot Cort, what time is the inquest?”

      “Two PM, is that alright?”

      “Sure, we can make it, at the court house, right?”

      “Yep, see you there.” Then he hung up. I turned to my wife; did you hear all of that?”

      “Yes, what do you want me to wear? Something sexy or something prim and proper?”

      “I think I would go with prim and proper; of course you could wear gunny sacks and you would still look sexy. But do your best to tone it down.”

      “In that case, I had better go buy something. Can you watch Alita for a half hour more? They have a boutique here, so it won’t take long.”

      She was a good as her word; she came back in a dark gray suit with the skirt down to her knees, along with a pair of medium high heels. I was at a loss for words.

      The more clothes she put on the sexier she looked. I didn’t say anything, it wasn’t her fault, she was just born that way.

       I just put on clean jeans and shirt along with my boots and hat. I did make sure I put the new pistol in my overall jacket pocket. I had already put the gun permit in my billfold. We fed Alita before we left.

      They had a metal detector at the court house, I showed them my permit. Turns out it just wasn’t a regular permit; it was police officers permit and as such it allowed me to carry the gun into court houses; just like a police officer would.

      When the guard handed the permit back to me, I looked at it, closely this time. It said that I was a special agent for the state of New Mexico. I wondered what kind of a special agent?

      After I stowed my billfold in my jeans pocket, Alita held her arms out to me. I took her, I think she liked her new Dad. I know I really liked her. Faith straightened her suit jacket and arraigned her skirt. Everyone was staring at her. Blond or brunette, red or purple, her hair color made no difference. She was a bombshell no matter which way you looked at her.

      Cort was right; the inquest was over in a matter of minutes. It was more or less a formality. The coroner ruled it justifiable. As we were walking out, I asked Cort, “Hey, I just read this permit; what kind of an agent am I supposed to be?”

      “A special agent appointed by the Governor, he is concerned about these land speculators. The Governor is a friend of mine. I told him about Dipper Tick, turns out he’s not the only one who has been poking around. He wants you to look into it; see if my maybe organized crime might be trying to move into our state. I’ll bring your I.D. and badge over later.”

      “Uh, I really don’t know about this, just what would I have to do? And who would I report to?”

      “This really isn’t that kind of job; like you have to clock in and stuff. The Governor just wanted you to have the proper authority. They did a background check and your record is squeaky clean. And oh, by the way, it doesn’t pay anything.”

      “Well in that case, how could I turn it down. Do I at least get an expense account, car, or anything?” I said with a smile.

      “No, no car. But if you have any legal expenses or anything like that, just submit a request for reimbursement.” Cort said, with a lopsided grin.

      “You mean if someone sues me, the state will pay for it?” I said.

      “Well you are an employee of the state, that would be only fair. Wouldn’t it?”

      “Fair? Yeah, I guess. I think it all depends on what side of the word ‘fair’ that you’re standing on. But yeah, if I find anything out, I’ll keep the state informed. That would be only ‘fair’ wouldn’t it?” Cort sort of looked a little crestfallen, at what I had just said. He didn’t know quite what I meant. That was okay, I didn’t either.

      As I was buckling Alita into her car seat Faith was watching me, she said, “Honey, are you Okay, you look a little glum?”

      “I’m alright. I was just thinking that’s all. A lot has happened to us since we left the ranch. I don’t think that I’m too happy about it. How could I be; I just shot and killed two men. Granted they deserved it, but just the same it grates on a person.”

      “I would say that I know how you feel, but that would be false, how could I? I’ve never had to kill anyone. Oh, there were times I would of liked to, I suppose, but in retrospect I’m glad I never have. But you just remember, you saved that Officer’s life, and I would say his life was worth ten of people like you shot.”

      “Yes, I know Honey. I guess what’s happening to me is just a delayed reaction. It’s happened to me before; after some operations that I’ve been on. I sure get tired СКАЧАТЬ