After my walk on the second day back, I developed the negative from the reenactment. I had to really work hard in the computer to make a decent image, but when I finished the image looked as though it were over a hundred years old. I liked it very much, so I got it ready for the laser printer at the Office Depot. I made it first into single sided post cards, then I set it up so that each page of card stock would print four postcards.
I setup a different page at two images to a sheet in order top make folding note cards. I planned to pick up some gold seals to hold them closed during their time in the mail. The file was large enough for me to set up an eleven by seventeen mini poster as well.

I put the files onto a thumb drive then moved on to other things. The first other thing was an old TV series that last only one season. I had never seen it, so it was kind of interesting in an off beat way. Most series that fail on TV aren't bad, they just can't find enough people who enjoy the particular point of view of the series. I was finding that I was pretty off beat myself because I liked a lot of them.

Still, two hours of it was all I could stand. After that I banged around reading about batteries where ever I could. I almost talked myself into buying some exotic batteries to build my own battery pack, but I read the notes of a man trying the same thing. His results were all over the place, so I decided to hold off. I really didn't need the bike for anything. It was just a fun project nothing more.

I spent a couple of hours working in the yard after lunch. Molly came home, I guessed for lunch. I expected grief about Francis from her as well . I hadn't seen her the day before, so she missed her chance then. To my surprise she just said, "hi," then sort of turned away. She looked preoccupied. I was just as glad that she was. I sat on the deck drinking a diet cola, while enjoying the smell of fresh cut grass. Pollen be damned, I thought, as my nose began to itch. It was still a pleasant way to spend the afternoon regardless.

I should have known that it wouldn't last. The ringing cell phone just could not be ignored. "Hello," I said into it. I could have checked the caller first but I didn't bother.


"Abba, this is Louise Moss. I got some bad news for you."

I waited but she didn't give it up. I knew that it was real bad. "Well spit it out Louise, it ain't gonna get no easier."

"Charlie got cut and beat up this morning. Abba he is dead." She paused a minute then went on. "I didn't want you to see it on the news."

"So what happened?" It hadn't really sunk in. It was more an exercise in curiosity than grief at that point.

"We don't know yet. It looks like he met someone in a parking lot. You know that back city lot on Commerce street. One of the patrol cops went by to drop off some paper at his car. He found him laying between two cars. He had already bled out. Coroner's report hasn't worked it's way down to me. The captain is funneling things through his office."

"Just so you know Louise, Charlie wasn't as clean as he looked. You might want to look into his personal life. This may not be job related."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Louise asked defensively. She was trying to defend her partner and fellow cop. She was angry and not in the mood to hear what I had to say.

"When you calm down, give some thought to what I just said."

"They said you were a mean arrogant bastard Abba. They also said that the department was better off without you, but I didn't believe them."

"If you don't now, you will." She didn't know what I knew or she might have kept her mouth shut. At lease until she had the facts. I didn't have them all, but I would pretty damn soon. She slammed the phone down. Well I didn't see her but I sure as hell felt it.