[Ramesh_Rocky]

When they came in I sat them down in the den with Debbie and two uniformed cops just outside and told them what had happened. Cathy just put her hands to her mouth as if she wanted to scream and Roy put his arm around her. Debbie sat down and put her arm around Kelly.

“We don’t really know what’s going on at this point, don’t know that there’s a threat to BJ or any of us, but we can’t afford to take chances either. These people have butchered whole families when they THOUGHT a trial of one of their guys was going to a particular prosecutor’s office.”
“Do you have any idea when we’ll know what’s going on, if there is a real threat?” Roy asked.
“The Sheriff’s Office investigators are working the case right now. They’ve called in the feds, and our people in Mexico with the DEA are trying to find out anything. Hopefully, if it’s a real threat, we’ll know shortly and can take precautions. If this is just a feint, just to get us nervous, we’ll know that too.”
Of course I couldn’t tell them that I had a pipeline to better information than the feds or our intelligence services probably had, if I could get to the cell in my office and the Old Man was answering.
Just then BJ came in flanked by two cops, his friend and the Wilsons. Debbie grabbed him and enveloped him, kissing him until he went “MOMMMMMMM!” and she finally let him go. A moment later Kelly had him and he put up with her a little bit longer and then he pushed her away.
“You guys are acting like I went and died. What’s going on?”
I told him. He gave me a stunned look and said, “They were watching me?
Taking pictures? You’re sure? Is this for real?”
“Real enough to get one man killed and probably two if we ever find his body.”
“What do you think they were going to do?”
I told him and the others what they had done to the Texas prosecutors’ families. He went a little pale. I didn’t blame him, or any of them. This kind of thing didn’t happen in our world.
Mr. Wilson asked, “What about us?”
“You’re going to go home with a security officer escort and I’ll talk to Knight about having a cop stationed at your house. This manpower thing is going to get expensive, but I’ll see it we can hit up the feds to pay part or all of the associated manpower costs. This is really more of a federal than a state responsibility even though they’re going to try him in a state court because it’s easier to put them to death in a state with an active death penalty like Florida – or Texas.
“However, I don’t think the cops will need to stay with you guys or that you’ll need to change your lives because I don’t think you’ll be in any real danger.”


“You can say that after what you just said they did to those families?”
“My family might be in danger, but I don’t think they would bother you. Even the Cartels can’t kill EVERYBODY with the slightest connection to one of their targets. I don’t think they’d have any reason to go after you, which is one of the reasons I think you need to get back to your home and not spend a lot of time around here.”
When they had left, we talked and decided that the Bascombs would stay in the house with us at least for the weekend. While we were standing there I called Knight and Edwards, asking them to get the authorities down there to put a couple of men into my mother’s home and watch them over the weekend as well. I called Mom and told her and Charles what was going on and that I didn’t really expect the Cartel to strike that far away even if they had plans, but better safe than sorry.
“Bill, you take care of Kelly and BJ....and....Debbie. But you be careful too.
I’ve already lost...”
“I know, Mom, I’ll be careful.”
It had been over 30 years, yet I knew that day was still fresh in her mind, and nothing would take it out of her head until the day she closed her eyes for the final time. I wondered in passing if it ever bothered Charles to know his wife loved another man that much after all these years but he must have been able to live with it or they wouldn’t still be together.
With all the arrangements made, I told Debbie and the kids that I had to go back to the office. I didn’t explain, just said it was important.
“Be careful, Dad,” Kelly said, coming to me, hugging me and kissing me on the side of the face.
Debbie stunned everyone by grabbing me and kissing me full on the lips. “Remember you’re not bulletproof,” she said, backing away.
“I’ll try not to forget. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
It was nearly 10 p.m. when I headed out in a security officer cruiser with another riding shotgun behind us. Knight and Edwards had both insisted on double coverage, just in case.
“This isn’t just for your benefit, Bill,” Dallas told me before I walked out the door. “You’re a symbol of this office, of the judicial system. We’re not going to let those bastards kick us in the balls again.”
The courthouse was spooky, as it always is late at night, an island of light in the darkness, harsh white light casting deep shadows. Both Miller and Costa, the patrol officers riding with me, got out of their cruisers first, checked out the area in front of the courthouse, then called down the cleanup crews to unlock the front doors and let us in. A couple of them surreptitiously crossed themselves when I walked past them - my legend was growing.


We rode the elevators to the top floor and both officers preceded me. I made them wait outside my office while I unlocked the drawer in my desk that held the Old Man’s dedicated cell. I punched in his number and waited while it rang, and rang, and rang.
Oh well, I know he didn’t sit around waiting for my calls. I hadn’t called him that often and I’d had to wait before. I didn’t say anything. He’d know where the call came from.
It was 10:45 before I got back to the house. Everybody was still up, as I’d expected, watching television, surfing on the Internet, listening to music or, in the case of Cathy, Roy and Debbie, just talking. I walked in and it was only awkward for a few minutes. In ten minutes we had moved into the den with coffee, tea and the baked chocolate chip cookies for which Cathy was famous.
There were glances shot back and forth that told me things unsaid were being thought, but as we talked about the things that I’d been working on, carefully leaving out the Donnally saga, Debbie started talking about the travails of riding herd on a crew of young, ambitious, horny male and female lawyers. There was laughter and it almost felt like the old days.
Then Cathy gave me a look that needed no words and I silently shook my head. I had thought Debbie and her father didn’t catch it, but the looks they exchanged told me they had. That was the trouble of coming out of a 20-year relationship - it was hard to hide your feelings and thoughts.
“I always thought you’d missed your calling, baby,” Roy told Debbie. “You should have gone to law college like Bill.”
She glanced over at me and her words had no venom or regret in them, although I expected that.
“Maybe, but it was more important to work so that Bill could get through law college. We always knew he was going to be the primary breadwinner. I have never regretted staying out and working at the bank. It actually helped me when I decided to go into business education.”