Without Emily seeing it or knowing about it, I met Dani around the back of their house and, true to her word, she had a fairly secure looking locker in the garden shed and woodshop behind their house. The locker was sort of half-hidden behind some stacks of plans and odds and ends of wood.
“You don’t worry about this locker being outside the house,” I asked, suddenly wondering at it.
“The base is attached to the concrete pad under the shed,” Dani replied. “To move it you’d need a jackhammer or dynamite. Either way I assume I’d notice.”
“Fair.”
I turned while she spun the lock open. Then, and only then, did I unzip my jacket.
“You really got to come to my house armed?”
“Boss didn’t give me a choice,” I said. “Apparently for this job, I’m going armed whether I want to or not.”
From the shopping bag I took out the gun case Jason had given me. I slipped the pistol out of my shoulder rig and locked it in the case, then handed it over.
There were a couple weapons in the locker: a shotgun and a pistol, it looked like. Boxy-looking Glock, probably something in the .40 range. I wasn’t too interested and Dani wasn’t going to offer details on her own. I also handed her the box of ammo and pulled the Taser off my belt.
“Jesus, Jack. What is it you’re doing next?”
“Protecting a professional wrestler from angry fans. I think.”
“Nothing about that sentence made it any clearer.”
“You ain’t the only one who’s confused.”
“Well, if it’s that dangerous, you want to borrow a baton or something?”
“Honestly, I’d rather carry one of those than a gun any day. That a serious offer?”
“Yeah.” Dani reached into the safe and pulled out two sheathed cylindrical objects. Telescoping batons.
“Are these things even legal in all the surrounding states?”
“It varies. You’ve got licenses, right? That might give you some cover. And besides, if it comes down to it, do you really give a shit if the weapon in your hand is legal or not?”
“I suppose I don’t.” I took the one she held out to me. It had a tactical rubber grip on the end and was tightly fitted into a nylon sheath with a belt loop. “Better leave it in the safe for now. But thanks. I’ll take it tomorrow.”
Off we went for more work. Emily had made good progress in my absence but I still had to work at a quick pace to try and catch up. I spent about an hour doing nothing but chopping onions, mushrooms, apples, and then peeling hot chestnuts for the more traditional dressing we’d serve tomorrow. The other, a corn bread pudding, was quick and mercifully easy, with almost no prep work. All we’d need to do was leave out one of the baking loaves to get a little hard and stale overnight.
When I came up for air, wiping sweat off my forehead with my sleeve, Emily handed me a cold pint glass. I sniffed it carefully and it smelled delicious; spicy, a little sweet, rich.
“Southern Tier Pumking,” she said. “Best part of the season.”
“I find that point hard to argue with,” I said. I still peered at it a little mistrustfully. “Any idea what the ABV is?”
“Jack, if you’re worried about riding home, you know you can always just stay here. If you’re worried about the calories,” she said, dropping her voice. “You shouldn’t be.”
I took a deep breath and then a tiny sip of the beer. It was so good I wanted to tip it back and finish it in one go. Instead I stuck with the cautious sip.
“That,” I said, “is delicious. Thank you.” I set the mug down but gave it a longing look as I did, and went back to chopping and assembling.
“Dani tells me you’re bringing a young lady tomorrow,” Emily said, as she checked the loaves she had in the oven.
“I am.”
“This is a first.”
“Yup.”
“Are you going to tell me anything about her?”
I laughed. “It’s…hard to find the right words, I guess. I have a hard time talking about her. Or even…to her.”
“How’d you meet? Let’s start there.”
“Uh, on my last case, actually. The missing kid, Gabriel? Gen…Geneva…works for his father. I spoke to her early in the investigation. Later she…well, she gave me the info that broke the case for me.”
“Is there anything unethical about dating someone you meet that way?”
“Well, we didn’t actually start dating till after the case had concluded.”
“That sounds like a technicality, Jack.”
“Maybe it is, but I took her to dinner to thank her for her help and…here we are.”
She nodded. We went silent again. “You haven’t been in the woodshop lately You’re good with tools. You enjoy working with your hands and it’s probably good for your soul.”
“I know…I just…”
“Well. Might be a good time to think about making something. Maybe a Christmas present for your Geneva?”
“That’s…not a bad idea at all.”
We went back to work; we sipped beer, chopped, cooked, assembled, baked, and my head spun with the idea Emily had planted in it.