Today’s
excerpt is from Too Many Women, Book #1 of the Becker Trilogy. Extra help in protecting Terri arrive and Bob
is surprised that he knows one of the two men.
Enjoy and have a fantastic day.
m.j.
When those on
the plane started disembarking, Bob muttered to himself, “I’ll be damned,” before he walked over to one of Hector Garcia’s
men and held out his hand. “Good to see
you again, Sergeant Major.”
Leo Gowen,
retired Marine Sergeant Major and SEAL, shook the offered hand. “Same here, Bob—and its ‘Leo’ these days.”
“Not to me, it’s
not…Sergeant Major.”
Dan, also a
SEAL, knew Bob from those days, but had never met Leo Gowen until he went to
work for Hector. Since both were SEALs,
he was not surprised they knew each other, but was a bit surprised at the utter
respect Bob was showing Leo. He knew
there had to be a story there, and wondered if he’d be able to get it out of
either man—or both.
After the
thought flashed through his mind, Dan introduced LAPD Homicide Detective Bert
Smiley and his partner Homicide Detective Sergeant Alan Evans. Dan noticed the salt and pepper team (Bert
was black, Alan white), but thought nothing of it. Then Dan introduced Horace Housmer, a very
heavily decorated retired Army Special Forces First Sergeant. As Bob and Horace finished shaking hands,
Janet came bouncing down the steps of the plane and rushed over to Bob and gave
him a big kiss…right on his mouth. She
had a habit of doing so to men who had been to war with her husband and, due to
the circumstances of Dan being alive, that certainly included Bob.
After the kiss
and hug from Janet, Bob pointed to his vehicle.
“Okay, I only got room for three at a time in my jalopy. And no room for much luggage. I’m thinking I drive three of you back to the
house, and one of those three can drive back my other rig like this one. The next load everyone left behind the first
time, and all luggage can come on the second trip. Would have had a friend who lives on the
property drive the other one, but didn’t want to leave our star witness alone
in the house.”
Dan volunteered,
“I’ll go in the first group and drive the other buggy back.”
Janet smiled.
“Alan, you and Bert go along, so you can start interviewing said witness. I’ll go on the next go-around.”
Those two picked
up their small overnight bags, got in the buggy, and waited as Dan and Bob got
in. Arriving at his home, Bob led the
other three in and introduced them to Bill—except in the case of Dan, who he
already knew—and Terri. Then he drove
Dan over to Bill’s home to get the other buggy, since Bill had walked the short
distance from his home to Bob’s.
While those two
were getting the second buggy, driving to the airplane, loading everything else
up in the buggies, Bill showed Alan and Bert to Bob’s den, followed by Terri. Before Alan and Bert could even ask any
questions, Terri handed them two copies of a full statement, signed, which Bob
had printed out on his computer, after taking dictation from Terri.
She
grinned. “It’s all there. You have any questions beyond that, shoot.”
They were still
reading as the others were bringing various luggage items into the
kitchen. Done, Bob went to the den,
after asking Bill to show everyone in the kitchen to the bar in the game room. As he walked in, Alan asked, “Miss Hawksworth,
is this signed statement you have supplied us with a full and true accounting
of the events in your home outlined herein accurate?”
Alan had a small
tape recorder running, which Terri knew about.
“Yes.”
Alan looked at
Bert and asked, “You have any questions?”
Bert shook his
head. “No.”
Alan glanced at
Bob. “We’re done. You and Miss Hawksworth sure made things easy
for us.”
“Guys, Terri is
okay…since we’re finished playing cops and witness.”
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