Monday morning I tried to follow my routine as closely as possible. I awoke, took a shower, then dressed for my morning walk. I started just a little earlier than usual. I managed to finish my walk, slip on a conservative work type outfit and be in Wilson's office shortly after 9AM.

"You did make it after all," was Deputy Chief Wilson's remark on seeing me in his doorway.

"Sure, I figure you would spot an old man 5 minutes this morning. I mean no one actually told me what time I should arrive."

"I was here at 8AM," he said.

"Ah I see, I guess it takes a lot of work to do what you do. What is it that you do Deputy Chief?"

"It actually is hard work trying to fit round pegs into square holes," he was as sarcastic as I was. He did score a point for that,

"Since I was told by the Captain that my detecting days were over, what will I be doing next."

"You do know Captain Faircloth don't you?"

"Yes, please don't tell me I am going to work for him?"

"No he is going to retire. You are going to fill his desk temporarily. At least until I can find the right man for the job."

"At least we can agree that I am not the right man for it," I replied.

"There is no way I would leave you working in the court system very long. You could set our relations with the Justice system back a hundred years>"

"Maybe more, I can imagine public whippings, quite easily,"

"Well go on over and get started. The Captain will be there a couple of more days to show you the ropes."

"Terrific," I replied leaving his office. The walk to the courthouse took only a couple of minutes. All the government buildings of all types were in the same block and shared a rear plaza. All I had to do was walk across the plaza.

"John," I said as I entered his office. "Looks like I need to learn how to do your job. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days."

"That can't be done, and it's Captain Faircloth to you<' he suggested.

"Ah okay John, as you wish." I said that with an evil smile.

"You know I could have you brought up on charges?"

"Not in two days. Do you really want to delay your retirement for a couple of months while I fight your charges." I watched him do a slow burn. "Tell you what John, I'll call you captain, if anyone else is around. That should work for you, since it is all bullshit anyway."

He didn't answer that, instead he threw a stack of typed papers at me. Really not at me, but on the desk in my direction. "Read through those and call the complaining officers. Tell them they have a pending case then give them the date and tell them to be available on that day."

"Sure," I had been on the receiving end of those calls enough times to know the cops would only pay attention when the call came in from the DA's secretary. Then only when she told him that the he would be needed within the hour. It was department policy to give the officer as much notice as possible. The problem was that the heads up meant nothing till the DA had a reading on how the case was progressing. Most cases lasted much less than a day, but some could drag on for several days. There was no sense in sitting in a courtroom for days just to hear that the mooch had decided to cop a plea.

Since I knew that some guys liked the heads up call, I made them even though I thought it was BS. I had finished those calls in less than an hour. I watched John take a couple of calls and talk quietly to one of them. I could tell he wanted to ask me to leave, but he didn't dare. That meant that he was going to be doing someone a favor.

Usually it was no more than a cop's family or friend needed a case lost for a day or two. Seldom were those favors really serious, so like everyone else I looked the other way. The favors were going to stop while I was filling in though. Not because I had a big issue with fudging, but because Wilson was looking for a reason to get rid of me.

I spent two bucks on peanut butter crackers and black coffee in the middle of the day. I had to really fight to stay away from the people headed out to Jimmy's Greek restaurant for lunch. I did manage to find a clerk's coffee club that would have me.

In the afternoon, I got my first bit of useful information. I had no idea that I would ever use it, but it did sound interesting. It seemed that most of the judges had a hard on for the Sheriff and his deputies who served civil summons. The criminal warrants weren't the issue, the Sheriff had no choice but to handle those in a timely manner. The problem was in the service of the civil papers. Divorce, lawsuits and the like just didn't rate high on the Sheriff's radar. When a defendant didn't show up on the scheduled court date, their defense was far too often that they hadn't been served.

That morning the judge was upset because his friend, the plaintiff's lawyer, was inconvenienced as well as himself. That caused a real problem with it being campaign contribution time and all. From what I could gather the problem seemed to be getting worse, what with the Sheriff's men getting stretched even thinner than usual. I filed the information into the back of my head under interesting but not urgent.

I was already home with the charcoal grill smoking when I heard the crunch of tires in the gravel drive. I couldn't see who had pulled in, so I could only hope that it was my tenant. I didn't need or want a conversation with anyone at that moment.

"Hello there," Molly said a few minutes later as she stepped onto her deck.

"Hello yourself, how was school?"

"It was the first day, I thought they would give us a break, but no such luck. Hell they even have PT there."

"The bastards,' I said quietly.

"Yeah, I knew what I was getting into. I'm sorry I was complaining."

"Oh I was teasing. I wouldn't have liked that either."

She looked over the grassy area between the two decks then asked, "Would you like a beer."

"Sorry I can't. I'm a friend of Bill, but you go ahead I don't mind."

"You said friend of Bill, like it explained everything."

"I'm an alcoholic. I have been sober for ten years and a couple of months." I loved the reaction that it got. It was usually the same look as when someone stepped in a pile of dog shit.

"You sure you don't mind me drinking."

"Not at all, I still have a few vices, so don't worry I don't preach."

"Good." She stopped then went on, "By the way I met someone at school today. I hope you don't mind if I have someone over tonight."

"Not in the least, just keep the noise down and all will be well. I'm really not the fatherly type, so you dont have to explain or ask my permission to do anything."

"Good, well have a good evening," she suggested.

"You do the same," I replied as I moved my burger onto a plastic plate. I expected hers would be better even if she didn't get laid.