Welcome to book fifteen in the Operation Quickline series. Christmas may be Lisa Wycherly’s favorite time of the year, but then Sid’s shocking encounter with an old friend gets them embroiled in one messy case. With Lisa’s nephew spiraling out of control, it’s looking like a not-so-merry holiday. You can read the latest chapter here, and follow the whole series here.
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Lisa’s Voice
Kathy and Jesse celebrated his release with his family. That next morning, however, found them in Sid’s and my office. They were not happy to hear what Zack had to say about the arrest.
“Pure racist bullshit,” Jesse growled, pacing the office. “It’s going to take videotape of them whaling on us before White people get it.”
[Ironic as hell that even the videotape didn’t help us White people get it. – SEH]
“At least, we have reason to believe that it wasn’t our operation that was threatened,” Sid said, holding and jiggling Keshon. “Small comfort, I know, but I’m looking for anything right now.”
“They’ve also targeted my nephew’s car,” I said. “I found drugs yesterday in the back seat.”
“Why not Nick’s or yours?” Kathy asked.
“They’re in the garage,” I said. “Darby’s car is out and vulnerable in the driveway.”
Sid sighed. “I know what I need to do.” He winced. “I don’t want to get rid of you, but it would be a lot better if you weren’t around for this next part.”
Kathy and Jesse agreed. Kathy took Keshon from Sid only to have the child split our eardrums with his screams.
“At least, he likes you,” Jesse said, smiling weakly.
Sid’s Voice –
I got Loser to meet me at the end of the Santa Monica Pier right before noon. The sky was clouded over and threatening, but I knew there was a bar nearby if it started to rain before we were done.
He was waiting for me, hunkered down in a jacket that was about the same size and style as a windbreaker, but heavier than that.
“Hey, Sid,” he said as I walked up.
I looked out over the whitecaps on the ocean in front of us. “What the hell is going on? First, you damned near get us killed. Then my good friend is targeted, and even my nephew.”
“What do you mean?”
“Both of them had drugs planted in their cars.”
Loser shook his head. “You sure they’re not using?”
“Jesse? Hell, no.” I stopped. Darby had been off but wasn’t showing the signs of coke use. “My nephew neither. Look, I get that you need help, but you’ve been lying to us. I need to get these bastards off our ass. I don’t give a fuck about you. Trust me. But this is affecting my family and my friends. Do me a favor and be straight with me for a change.”
“What makes you think I’m not?”
“Getting shot at in a warehouse. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that you couldn’t possibly expect Angelique to do much about these fucks. Come on. She’s great, but she isn’t an agent. And if these guys have such great protection, what is she going to do about it?”
Loser sighed. Even odds it was genuine. “I was hoping you guys could protect me. Part of the whole hiding in plain sight thing.”
“Uh-huh.”
“If you’re not going to believe me, then why are you here?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’ve got to do something.” I sighed. “They’re hurting my family. That may not be something you understand, but it’s real for me.”
Loser snorted. “I get it better than you think.” He looked at me. “Sid, I don’t want to hurt you or your family. It’s true that I’m probably in too deep to get out of this on my own. I don’t know what to tell you.” He swallowed.
Damn, I wished Lisa were with me. There’s a reason she’s so good at poker. She can spot those tiny little signs that tell when someone is lying.
Loser looked around the pier. “I do have some evidence on these guys. Do you mind holding it for me?”
“What do you mean?”
Loser pulled a floppy disk from his jacket pocket. “Dates and shit. At some point, I’ll have to go public. But if you and Tom have this information, it will back me up. You know I need it. They’re special agents. Who’s going to believe me when I’m up against them?”
I took the disk. “This is the best you can do?”
“Right now, yeah.”
“Fuck you. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.”
Loser laughed. “Fuck you, too.”
He turned away and walked up the pier to the street. A huge wave broke on the end of the pier, sending spray into the mist. My breath blew out in a little cloud, and I realized the mist was coalescing into tiny raindrops.
Lisa’s Voice
When Sid got home, he was not in a good mood. He went straight to the office without a word. I grabbed the remains of the chicken salad that Conchetta had made for lunch and brought it to him.
We have four computers at home, which seems like a lot. Okay, it is a lot. Sid and I each have one for our respective writing work and have had for several years. Nick has one for his schoolwork. But then there is the fourth computer. It’s supposedly a portable, and it is easier to move it from place to place than our Macintoshes. But it doesn’t work with either of the Macintoshes. Esther says it has a different operating system, whatever that is.
It did work with the floppy disk that Sid had brought home. However, what was on the disk was pretty much useless.
“We have this already,” Sid groaned, adding a few other curse words.
“Does he know that?” I asked.
Sid shut his eyes. “Possibly.” He groaned loudly. “That’s the problem. I have no idea how much of what he’s told me is the truth. Lisa, he’s done nothing but lie to us.”
I sighed. “You’re right. But we’ve gotten enough from other sources to know that some of it must be true.”
“But what parts?” Sid shook his head. “Damn it, they targeted Darby’s car. And what they did to Jesse.”
“I know, lover. That worries me, too. At least, we don’t have to think about it until tomorrow.”
Sid looked up at me, worried. “What the hell do you mean?”
“Tonight is Darby’s spotlight concert. We just have to get him through that, then we can think about other things over the weekend. By the way, it’s starting to rain.”
Sid looked out the front window of the office and cursed. “You’re right.”
“I’ve already called Mae. If there’s powder, they’re all up for it.”
Sid laughed. “It will get them out of town tomorrow.”
“Mm-hm.” I smiled back but knew darned well it was the lure of fresh powder as much as it was keeping my family safe.
You see, when it rains in our part of Los Angeles at this time of year, it generally means it’s snowing in the mountains that surround us. Which means a ski trip. Having grown up in South Lake Tahoe, Mae and I love skiing. Sid loves to ski, too, and none of us likes the weekend crowds. A Friday is pushing it, but we do recognize that we can’t really control the weather.
Sid immediately called his contact and secured lift tickets. Neil and Mae love skiing enough that they don’t mind Sid paying for it. I called Mae to let her know that the kids would be out of school the next day. She was ecstatic.
Well, she was about the ski trip the next day. She was not so happy about that night.
“Did Darby eat anything this morning?” she asked.
I made a face. “Not much. He’s feeling it.”
“Shavings. He’s worrying, isn’t he?”
“He’s been pretty nervy since he got back from the rehearsal with the orchestra yesterday.” I sighed. “Sy says it’s normal and he should be.”
“Probably.” Mae groaned. “This sucks, Lisa. I know Sy is right, but it’s so damned hard to watch. I just want to pull Darby into my arms and not let go until he’s fifty.”
I laughed sadly. “I know what you mean. Darby will be okay. We love him. He knows it. He’ll be fine. We just have to trust that God will have His hand on him.”
“You’re right.” Mae swallowed audibly. “See you tonight.”
When the boys pulled up after school that afternoon in Darby’s car, I had Motley check it. It was still misting pretty heavily, but we were between downpours.
“What’s going on?” Darby growled.
“Somebody’s been playing some nasty pranks,” I told him.
Darby looked at Motley, and his face went pale. “You’re checking me for drugs, aren’t you? I remember Motley does that.”
“Darby, I know you’re not using drugs. There are some guys who are harassing us, and they planted some cocaine in one of our friends’ cars.”
“Oh, bull-puckey.” That was the term he used. Darby will not swear in front of me or Mae. “You don’t trust me!”
He stormed off into the house.
Nick just shook his head. “He’s been a mess all day.”
Motley sniffed all around the car, then quickly lost interest.
“At least, Darby’s clear.” I started up the front walk. “He does seem more nervous than usual.”
Nick followed me inside the house. “I think it’s that stupid agent, Crispin.”
Darby stormed through the hall to the front of the house, his overnight case and violin case in hand.
“I’ve gotta go home,” he announced, glowering. “I’ll see you guys tonight.”
The front door slammed behind him.
“So, what’s with the agent?” I looked at Nick. “I know he’s been putting some pressure on.”
“He keeps telling Darby that his parents are holding him back and that he’ll miss his big chance if he doesn’t sign with him now.”
“That’s nonsense.”
Nick sighed. “But Darby doesn’t know that. The scary thing is that Aunt Mae and Uncle Neil don’t know the classical music business, and Crispin keeps pushing the idea that Sy and Stella haven’t kept up to date with it.”
“Hm.”
Sid got home early from the music school, and the three of us hurried to a restaurant not far from the theater where the concert was being held. Mae and Neil were already there with Janey and Ellen, and my parents. The twins were a little too antsy, and Lissy was way too young to spend an evening listening to classical music, so they were at home with a babysitter. Sy and Stella were also at the table. Darby was already at the theater.
“I am so glad, too,” Mae sighed as I slid into a chair between her and Sy. “Even Mama was having a hard time with him.”
“Young artist,” said Sy.
“And apparently that agent Crispin,” I grumbled and told them what Nick had told me.
Sy sighed deeply. “Then we will get someone to talk to him who is currently in the business and doing very well at that. She’s coming to the concert tonight, so that should help. When can we set up a more formal meeting?”
Mae and I dove for our organizers.
“We’ve got the choir party on Sunday,” I said, flipping pages. “But the just usual stuff after that.”
“Monday would work for us,” Mae said. “You guys want to eat dinner at our place?”
“I think so,” I said.
Mae and I checked with our respective spouses and Mama and Daddy, while Sy whispered something to Stella, and it was agreed we’d spend Monday evening with Mae and family, although we decided to have dinner and the meeting at Sid’s and my place.
Having the meeting planned helped all of us to relax, and we lingered over dinner until it was time to go over to the theater for the concert. I was so glad the twins had stayed home. Darby was on last, and Marty and Mitch would never have made it.
Ah, but Darby played so beautifully. It was the Bach Violin Concerto in A Minor. Both Mae and I couldn’t help sniffling. He’s so serious when he plays, and yet there’s such a glow about him, you can tell he is in utter bliss at the same time. Sy nodded, smiling. Darby’s newly gained ego may have been causing other trouble, but one lesson that had stuck solidly was that when he played for others, he was to give it his all or not bother.
After the concert, we headed backstage. Darby, still in his rented tux, was accepting congratulations from the conductor. Sy’s eyes narrowed as one small fellow with dark hair, gelled and sticking up, approached Darby.
“Good evening, Mr. Crispin,” Sy said loudly.
The man turned. “Oh, hello, Dr. Flournoy. You’ve chosen quite the protégé.”
“As I well know.” Sy looked up. “Ah. And here’s Ms. Stein. Thank you so much for coming, Roxanna.”
She was about my height, with light brown hair piled on top of her head. She wore a royal blue jacket and straight skirt with a white blouse coming untucked, and glasses dangling from a chain around her neck. She walked up and gave Sy a kiss on the cheek.
“It’s good to see you, Sy.” She turned and smiled at Darby. “So, you’re the young man.”
“Yeah,” said Darby with a grin.
Her lips pursed a little. “Sy was right. Nice job, by the way.” She turned and saw Crispin. “Alex, darling, why don’t we stop harassing innocent little artists and go get a cup of coffee?”
Crispin reluctantly left with Ms. Stein.
“Man, I’m starved,” Darby sighed loudly. “I gotta get something to eat.”
“In good time, young man,” Sy said. “Where’s your bag?”
“In the dressing room.” Darby started to put away his violin. “Ellen, go get it.”
“No, she won’t,” Mae said. “You go get it. In fact, go get changed pronto, then neatly hang up your tux, and we’ll go.”
“But I’m hungry now!”
Mae got a solid grip on her son’s arm and marched him into the dressing room.
“If you ever treat one of your siblings or anyone else as your personal servant again, I swear, Darby, I will break your hands.”
“And I will help,” said Sy.
Darby looked terrified.
“Yes, you are very talented, my son.” Mae was shaking. “But that does not entitle you to act like a little shit. Do you understand?”
Darby swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Alright. The sooner you change, the sooner we’ll get you something to eat.”
There wasn’t much open at that hour, so we found a McDonald’s. Darby ate two Big Macs, two large fries, and a chocolate shake. He had barely finished slurping down the last of the shake when he started blinking and yawned. He and his family went out to their van, and Janey told me the next day that Darby had fallen asleep even before Neil had the engine started. Mama and Daddy followed Sid, Nick, and me home.
Sid, Nick, and I did not go running the next morning. It was still raining, but that didn’t matter. We were all up by five-thirty. Sid and Daddy got the ski rack onto the top of Sid’s Beemer and locked down five sets of skis and poles. Mama made a full pot of hot coffee while I ran hot water into the two insulated bottles. Nick got the toast going. There was plenty of fresh powder in the mountains, and the slopes were calling.
It was one of those great days that remind me why I love being with my family so much. It was Lissy’s first time on skis, too, and everyone took turns teaching her how to stop and glide, and she really took to it. Daddy even said she picked it up faster than I had. Sadly, though, I couldn’t convince anybody to race me. Well, I am the fastest skier in the family.
Darby and I got a chance to talk, too, sitting next to each other on the chair lift.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he said.
“I accept your apology. And it really was about those guys harassing our friend.”
“I know.” He smiled and ducked his head. “Sy wouldn’t tell me how I did last night.”
“It was gorgeous.” I slung my arm across his shoulders. “You are so talented. But that does come with a certain amount of responsibility.”
He sighed. “Just call me Peter Parker.”
“Huh?”
“Spider-Man. With great power comes great responsibility. Peter’s uncle keeps lecturing him that way.”
“Oh.”
“Aunt Lisa, was I really that bad last night?”
It was my turn to sigh. “Yes and no. But it would be all too easy for you to get worse, and none of us wants that for you. I mean, do you want to be a jerk?”
“No.” Darby shook his head.
“You’ll be fine, then. Just take us seriously when we call you on it.”
“Okay.”
“Wanna race me?” I nudged him playfully.
“No.”
It was an altogether satisfying day, but by the end of it, I was also reminded why I don’t like spending time with my family.
“I think I need some time to myself,” I told Sid as we got into bed that night.
“Well, the plan is to go to the Third Street Promenade tomorrow.”
“We’ve been there.”
The city of Santa Monica had newly refurbished their big, closed-street walkway, and it had opened the previous September.
“Everyone else hasn’t,” Sid said. “Why don’t you stay home?”
“I think I will. Now, how do I thank you for being so sensitive to my needs?” I grinned.
Sid just chuckled lecherously.
Saturday was sheer heaven. I mostly stayed in bed all day, read a silly murder mystery, dozed, and didn’t think once about grammar and rhetoric and how to teach it, or federal agents, or much of anything except how lovely and quiet it was.
Sunday provided another all-too-brief lull in the craziness, only it wasn’t entirely a lull. It was time to get the Christmas tree. Two years before, our parish’s school decided to have a Christmas tree lot for a fundraiser. It’s been darned successful. After mass, I sent Mama, Daddy, and Sid on home to get the space in front of the living room niche window ready while Nick and I picked the actual tree out. We’d pre-ordered an eight- to nine-foot tree. All I had to do was look at the ones they had, pick it out, and get it onto the top of Sid’s Beemer.
It wasn’t even twelve-thirty by the time we rolled up the driveway.
“I did it again!” I hollered into the front as I opened the double doors. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“You always do, dearest,” Sid said, laughing.
And I had done it again. The tree was exactly five inches too tall.
“That’s a nine-foot tree!” I moaned. “That’s a ten-foot ceiling.”
Daddy and Sid cut down the bottom, as usual, then once it was in the stand and anchored to the wall, Mama gathered Daddy and Nick, and they went out somewhere. I took a deep breath of one of my favorite scents in the world – that of a Douglas fir in my house.
“I’d better get going, too,” Sid said with a sigh. “We’re just meeting down at the Plaza. I’ll be back within an hour.”
“Okay. I’ll get the lights checked for dead bulbs.”
Sid’s Voice –
I hadn’t wanted to put off the tree decorating. It’s something that I truly enjoy doing with Lisa. However, Wallace was worried, and I couldn’t blame him. He’d found drugs in his car and had gotten rid of them just in time before a couple of cops served a search warrant on him. It had scared the shit out of his wife, too. So, he arranged to take the family shopping at the Century Plaza mall, which was the closest one to us, and meet me at one at a restaurant there.
I wasn’t in a good mood, as it was, but having to listen to him complain about Lottie annoyed the spit out of me.
“Why do you keep putting your wife down?” I snarled at him.
Wallace sat there for a minute, shifting awkwardly. “What do you mean?”
“Just now. You rolled your eyes because she was scared by cops serving a search warrant on you, then said she was being a ninny because she wanted you to call her when you got to work the next day.” I shook my head. “How is it being a ninny to want to know that your husband got to work safely after an experience like that? You do it all the time when you talk about her. Is your marriage that bad?”
“No. I guess.” Wallace sighed. “It’s how all the guys at work talk, the old ball and chain, stuff like that.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to.”
“I suppose.” Wallace thought it over for a minute. “But why do you care?”
I frowned. “This project I was working on a couple, three years back. It was the same thing, a bunch of guys running their wives down right and left, then bitching because they didn’t get enough sex.”
Wallace chuckled sardonically. “Yeah, well, being married with kids makes it really hard to have sex with any regularity.”
“That has not been my experience.”
We fell into silence.
Wallace looked at me, pondering. “Sid, do you ever ask yourself what you want out of life?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that I used to think I knew what I wanted. A good job, a wife, being a better dad to my kids than my dad was to me. Only I’m turning into him. That’s what gets Lottie. She says I don’t talk to her anymore. I don’t spend time with the kids. It’s just like my dad was. Problem is, I don’t know what to talk to them about.”
“Huh. Don’t know what to tell you. Lisa, Nick, and I, we talk all the time about our lives, what we think about things.”
“So, what did you want out of life when we were kids?”
I shrugged and shifted. “I had no idea. Honestly, pretty much everything I have now just happened to me. My money. Nick. When I met Lisa, I was looking for a secretary. In fact, what made her so good that way was that there was no sex going on. We could just work together and be friends. Then we fell in love. Her family adopted me. Nick showed up. The next thing I knew, we were getting married, and I was playing the organ for church services. I have a family now. I like having a family. I like being married and having my son. I’m so proud of that kid. And proud of my wife, too. Lisa is an amazing woman, and I don’t mind saying so.”
“Huh.” Wallace sighed. “So, what are we going to do about these Feds?”
“I have no idea.” And even if I had, I wasn’t going to tell him.
“Can we set up a meeting? Please?”
I looked at him. “Sure. I’ll see what we can do.”
“Wednesday night, okay?”
“Sounds okay. I’ll check with Lisa, though, and get back to you.”
“Why do you have to check with your wife?”
I rolled my eyes. “Because A- she keeps the family schedule, and B- it’s a basic courtesy. She checks with me before making any commitments.”
“That’s weird.”
I got up and slapped his upper arm. “Maybe. But keep in mind, I’m the one getting more sex now than I did before I got married. And I got a lot of sex before I got married.”
I left the table just as two kids, a young teen girl and a pre-teen boy, came running up.
“Dad!” the boy yelled. “See what I got Grandma!”
Wallace awkwardly hugged his son and daughter.
I left, shaking my head. Back home, Lisa had all the boxes out with the ornaments and garlands and lights. I couldn’t help giving her an extra warm kiss before we went to work. We had a new star for the top of the tree that year. The previous topper, an angel, had fallen off the tree and shattered the year before, when Bowser almost knocked the tree over. Bowser and Motley were curled up on the living room floor. Fritz, who was inside for a change, dozed on the big sofa, while Blueberry slept on the floor underneath. Long John sat on the piano bench and glared with her one eye.
Lisa and I got the lights on the tree, and they twinkled individually, making it hard to see where they were even and where they weren’t. Then the garlands. I opened the first ornament box and almost choked.
“Are you okay?” Lisa put her hand on my arm.
“Great, actually.” I chuckled. “I was just remembering when you bought all this stuff, that first Christmas.”
She had been so passionate and joyful that it infected me. Oh, I’d wanted to make love to her then, and at the same time, it was so much fun just being with her. I had no idea then what that special closeness we were building would lead to. I couldn’t have imagined it.
And the memories continued. One of our little traditions, in addition to decorating the tree just the two of us, is that we each buy one or two ornaments to reflect the previous year. I swallowed as I hung the miniature Arc de Triomphe that Lisa had bought for Christmas, 1983, to signify the incredible trip we’d taken to find out who was leaking about Quickline, only to fall in love with each other. She sniffled as she gazed at the little comedy and tragedy mask ornament I’d bought in 1987 in memory of a play she and Nick had done during that case.
We had just finished and were happily necking in front of the tree. I loved the feel of her hands on my ass and how her ass felt under my hand. My other hand slid up her torso, and my thumb softly stroked the side of her breast.
“What time is it?” she asked, grinning.
“Mom! Dad! We’re home!” Nick yelled from the doorway.
“That time,” I whispered.
“Oh. There you are.” Nick laughed.
“It looks beautiful, Lisle,” Mama said.
“Yeah,” I said, checking my pocket watch. “It’s almost five. We’d better get these boxes put away and get the dining room ready for the choir party.”
The choir party is a potluck, so there wasn’t much to be done. And sure enough, Frank and Esther were the first ones there, right at five-thirty.
It was crazy. It was even chaotic. But I swear, it made me happier than I’d ever been. I had to figure that was why I didn’t want to run Lisa down or complain about being a family man. I’d never wanted to be one, never expected it to happen. Yet, it had, and I was having a blast.
Thank you for reading. For more information about the Operation Quickline series, click here.
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