feeds.
I thanked Soozy and went back to Becca, who needed a blanket. She was shivering in her bikini, never the best costume to be wearing when you have that much adrenaline coursing through your veins.
“When did you become this awesome?” Becca asked me, realizing, maybe for the first time, that I’m no longer the kid who used to swing with her upside down on the monkey bars back at Holy Innocents Elementary. “You totally saved my life, Danny Boy.”
I tried to shrug off the compliment. “We’re pals. You would have done the same thing for me.”
“Nuh-unh. I hate guns. They’re so freaking loud!”
On Monday morning, after my big weekend of fame and doing TV interviews, I went to work and discovered I had a brand-new boss.
Because this time, when they offered him the full-time police chief job, Ceepak took it.
Seems he needs the pay bump so he and Rita can buy a house with what they call a mother-in-law apartment. Mrs. Ceepak-my partner’s mom, not Rita-is moving to Sea Haven “right after Halloween.” Guess she wants to see the Ohio trick-or-treaters one last time. Drop a big ol’ slab of walleye candy in their bags.
Roberto Lombardo goes to trial next spring. He is currently being held without bail in a jail somewhere with lots of barbed wire and guards.
Layla Shapiro is undergoing psychiatric evaluation to see if she is mentally fit to stand trial. If not, they’ll just keep her locked up in a hospital ward for the rest of her life. She’ll be able to watch TV all day, every day.
Martin Mandrake has disappeared into the Federal Witness Protection Program. But if you start hearing about plans for a reality TV Series based in, say, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, chances are it’ll be another Marty The Old Farty production.
Oh, and here’s the best news about the coming off-season down the shore: Becca’s dad is officially running for mayor. After the shootout in the Fun House, when his daughter nearly died because of the grubby deal Hugh Sinclair made with even grubbier TV people, Mr. A. pulled out that clipboard and got double the number of signatures he needed.
Come the first Tuesday in November, Mayor Hugh Sinclair will be just like the star of that other reality TV series:
Which is a good thing.
We need to clean this place up.
Throw out the trash.
Air out our dirty laundry.
Quit sweeping stuff under the rug.
Because, like I said, Ceepak’s mom is coming to town.
