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spread a story about the witness protection
program and police custody.”
    I walked to my room, sulking.
    In all honesty, I had only one bag
of belongings in the hotel room with me, and aside from my books, it was all I
was planning to bring. But it bothered me that my life for the past decade and
a half was ending so casually, so perfunctorily. “I have to talk to Mare,
dinner at a nice place to thank her. I’d like for her to come with me.”
    As if he had a say in the matter,
Foxworthy agreed. “Oh, we sent her roses immediately after she was debriefed.
No name because of the secrecy, but she has an idea. She’s an adroit woman.
    “My secretary will put you on the
overnight flight to Hawaii. You have about eight hours to accomplish your goals
here.” The doors opened, and he walked off the stage like a Greek god at the
end of a play. Yet another part of my existence had been decided for me. If it
weren’t so amazing, I’d be angry.
    ****
    We never made it to the restaurant.
Things went horribly wrong at Mary Ann’s apartment and I ended up riding to the
airport alone a few hours early. Looking back, the roses were the first
mistake. They put her on her guard, and she immediately expected bad news of
some kind. Maybe she thought I was leaving forever. She kept pressing me for
details, and I kept asking where she wanted to eat. When forced into a corner,
I asked her to leave Massachusetts and move to Hawaii with me.
    Obviously, I hadn’t thought all
this through yet. Mare loves her job, and the islands don’t have a burning need
for interstate high-speed Hover Patrol officers. I knew I was beyond the realm
where words could help me when I tried to calm her down. I got as far as “Mare...”
before she blasted me for ten minutes about how demeaning it was to be referred
to as an animal whose only purpose was breeding. Things got worse from there.
    Why is it that you can never have
what you want and be happy at the same time? It must be another Heisenberg
corollary.
    ****
    At the airport, as I was leaving
Bayside, probably for the last time, Captain Jenkins met me at the gate and
pulled me aside. I was scared stiff that Mary had called the guy crying, and
now he was going to haul me back to jail for violating some indenturement law. “You
won’t remember this, but two months ago my wife came in for a tune-up. You
demanded she get a traction adjustment and a new air bag release valve,” he
said in a low, conversational tone.
    “Oh, she probably had a Mitosa
Wagon. I’ve seen a lot of those towed away as wrecks. The adjustment only took
half an hour.”
    “Well, I thought you were a crook
at the time, gouging her because she was a woman. She went in for a $50 problem
and ended up paying over a thousand.”
    I cringed. “Look, I don’t see a
dime of that. The parts eat most of it, and my salary is garnished. I just told
her I wouldn’t work on the car period unless she got it done right.”
    “Well, I yelled at her something
fierce. But a few weeks later, some drunk ran her off the road into a ditch.
You probably saved her life. Hell, this black box that I’m supposed to forget
all about will save a lot more.”
    Leaving on this plane was my big
chance, I was relieved the chief wasn’t going to slap me in jail long enough
for Exotech to get it’s mitts on me. “Just doing my job.” I shrugged.
    “Yeah. I never got a chance to thank
you. Not many people will thank you for doing a job, but cops know how it feels
to get only negative press. I wanted to do something for you.” He took a file
out from his briefcase, my file I assumed. I’m not sure what he was doing, but
I wanted to keep liking him.
    “Thanks.” I cut him off and wouldn’t
take the file.
    “It might make interesting reading
on the plane. And if it were to get lost, we wouldn’t look for it too hard,
seeing that you wouldn’t live in our jurisdiction any more.” He tried to slip
it to me again, and I refused again.
    “No, sir. All