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fine.”

Chapter 14
    STILL AT MY DESK LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON, I’d spent the last two hours scouring the NYPD and FBI databases for any open cases involving the name Lawrence. Though there were quite a few, not one of them seemed to have anything to do with explosives or serial bombings. My eyes felt like blown fuses after I’d sifted through case after irrelevant case.
    I glanced up from my computer at the cartoon on the wall of my cubicle, where two cops were arresting a guy next to a dead Pillsbury Doughboy. “His fingerprints match the one on the victim’s belly,” one of the cops was saying.
    If only I could catch a slam dunk like that, I thought, groaning as I rubbed my tired, nonsmiling Irish eyes with the heels of my hands.
    Scattered around the bullpen behind me, half a dozen other Major Case detectives were running down the lead on the European explosive and questioning potentialwitnesses and library staff. So far, just like me, they had compiled exactly squat. Without witnesses or likely suspects to connect to the disturbing incident, I was betting it was going to stay that way. At least until our unknown subject struck again. Which was about as depressing as it was gut-churning.
    It was getting dark when I finally clocked out and drove back to the Point. Fortunately, most of the traffic was in the opposite lane, heading back into the city from Long Island, so I made decent time for a change.
    My gang had quite a surprise for me as it turned out. It started innocently enough. Trent was sitting by himself in the otherwise empty family room when I opened the front door.
    “Hey, buddy. Where is everyone?”
    “Finally,” Trent said, putting down the deck of Uno cards he was playing with. He lifted up my swim trunks sitting on the couch beside him and tossed them at me.
    He stood and folded his arms.
    “You need to put these on and follow me,” he said cryptically.
    “Where?” I said.
    “No questions,” Trent said.
    My family was nuttier than I was, I thought, after I got changed and let Trent lead me down the two blocks toward the dark beach. Down toward the water’s edge, I saw a crowd beside a bonfire. The Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling” was blasting.
    “Surprise!” everyone yelled as I stepped toward them.
    I staggered over, unable to believe it. All my guys were there. They’d brought out the grill, and I could smell ribs smoking. A tub of ice and drinks and a tray of s’mores sat on a blanket. A Bennett beach party was in full swing.
    “What the heck is this? It isn’t my birthday.”
    “Since you couldn’t be here for a day at the beach,” Mary Catherine said, stepping out of the shadows and handing me a gigantic Day-Glo blue plastic margarita glass, “we thought you might like a night at it. It was all the kids’ idea.”
    “Wow,” I said.
    “We love you, Dad,” Jane said, dropping a plastic lei around my neck and giving me a kiss. “Is that so surprising?”
    “Oh, yes, Daddy-Waddy. We wuv you so much,” said Ricky, tossing a soaking-wet Nerf football at my head. I even managed to catch it without spilling a drop of booze.
    After a few more stress-killing margaritas and laughter from watching Seamus dance to “Wipe Out,” I was ready for the water. I gathered everyone up and drew a line in the sand with the heel of my bare foot.
    “Okay. On your mark, get set…”
    They were already bolting, the little cheating stinkers. I hit the ocean a second behind them. I collided with the water face-first, a nail bomb of salt and cold exploding through my skull. Damn, I needed this. My familia was awesome. I was so lucky. We all were.
    I let the water knock me silly, then got up and threw someone small who smelled like a s’more up onto my shoulders and waited for the next dark wave. Everyone was screaming and laughing.
    I stared up at the night sky, freezing and having an absolute panic. There was a roar, and another wave came straight at us. We howled as if to scare it