Friday Morning

"You two cooked this up to get more time off. Didn't you, Sandburg?"

"I swear to you, Captain. Everything I told you is true. You can talk to one of the other people who are here if you don't believe me. There are two guys from the Denver ATF still hanging around." Blair used one hand to push his hair back away from his face. Both he and Jim had decided that it would be better to wait until morning to call their captain and let him know they were going to have to stay down in Louisiana for at least a week or so longer.

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"Don't push it, Sandburg. I've got a meeting with the Commissioner and the Mayor in an hour and it's budget time. I'm not in a charitable mood."

"Uh, well, the purse snatcher gets arraigned later today. But the other two cases are not until next week sometime. Maybe."

~sigh~ "Where's Ellison hiding? If he's anywhere nearby, I know he can hear me."

Blair looked across the lobby of the hotel to the front doors. He could see Jim standing out under the portico trying to ignore him, but the larger man obviously was listening to every word. "He's not in the hotel, sir. He, uh, I think he might have gone down to that bakery he found on Monday."

"Uh, huh. Well, you make sure he gets this message just as soon as he finishes stuffing his face. Understand?"

"Yes, sir. Make sure Jim hears exactly what you're going to tell me." Blair saw Jim tilt his face and knew his partner was focusing his hearing toward the conversation.

"The very minute you two have things cleared up down there, I want both of your butts on an airplane and back in Cascade. No helping the police solve any more cases, you are not to do anything. And don't even consider getting any time off for several months once you do get back. Am I making myself clear?"

Seeing Jim nod, Blair mimicked the action then realized he was talking on a telephone. "Yes, sir. Crystal." The phone clicked heavily and the line went dead. "And goodbye to you, too, Captain. It was so nice talking to you, sir," Blair said sarcastically into the buzzing receiver.

"I didn't need my special hearing with that conversation, Chief." Walking up to his partner, Ellison sat on the arm of a nearby couch.

"I still say it's the office. Everyone who sits in there just automatically gets loud." Placing the receiver back on the cradle, Blair rubbed his ear. "Are we ready to go?"

"Bags are in the car, we're all checked out of the hotel and the local police have telephone numbers of where we're going. Let's hit the road before it gets too late." Turning, Jim started walking toward the door.

"Where're the car keys, Jim?" Blair asked, moving quickly up to his partner's side.

Jim held up his hand, shook the keys on the ring then tucked them into his front pocket.

Blair held his hand out. "I'll take them back, man." Jim kept walking. "Jim, give me the keys. Until we get another car, I have to drive. Now hand them over."

Lengthening his stride, Jim exited out the hotel doors.

"Jim! Come back here, man."

Stay tuned next week as Jim and Blair stop in Backstone, Louisiana, on the same day a local woman goes missing. Helping out with the case embroils them in a twenty-five year old murder directly linked to the mysterious Merry Derkins in "Merry" an all new The Sentinel.

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