Harley got up and demanded a fresh pot of coffee from the cook. He walked back. “So, George Wall’s treasure is still out there?” Harley asked.
“Maybe, but not on Lucifer’s Lip. That was a dead end.”
“And almost the death of all of you.”
“Coffee!” the cook yelled.
Harley poured two cups and gave one to Stephen. “Drink up. You’re going to have to repeat this to Captain Waite, and I want your brain clear.”
~
Ted and Mason had just finished checking the satellite link when Mia came out of the bedroom wearing a long PEEPs zip hoodie that grazed the tops of her knees.
“Honey, you can’t go out without pants,” Ted said.
“I’m going swimming. I’m just wearing this over my bathing suit.”
Mason got up and came back with a pair of clean boxers. “Pull these on. The dirty old men in the hotel will think you’re naked under that.”
“Huh,” Mia said, walking over to the mirror. “Good catch. I never had this problem at Big Bear Lake.”
“That’s because we walked from the car to the beach. We didn’t have to go through the lobby, down the stairs, and over to the club,” Ted said. “I didn’t know you were up for a swim?”
“This hotel is draining me. There’s screams in the corridors, the dead wanting to hitch a ride on my psyche, and the horrible thing that slithers down the hall… I thought maybe I should get some fresh air.”
“Maybe when the boat arrives, we should offer our room to someone else,” Ted said.
“I’m sorry that you have a handicapped wife,” Mia said, opening the hoodie so she could pull up the boxers.
Mason took one look at Ted’s handicapped wife in her two-piece bathing suit and left the room.
Mia turned around and asked, “Where’d he go?”
“I expect…” Ted stopped when he heard the shower, “he’s taking a cold shower. Mia, you look so beautiful. Make sure you bring the sunscreen. You don’t have much material to protect you.”
Mia zipped the hoodie and walked over. “Thank you, Teddy Bear. Are you sure you don’t want to come swimming?”
“I think I’m going to catch up on some sleep. You were tossing and turning all night.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m the one that insisted on this historic hotel. We should have stayed in a newer establishment.”
“Live and learn,” Mia said, picking up her tote bag. “Later, gator.”
Mason walked out of his room. He had put on a swimsuit and his lucky t-shirt. “I’m going with her.”
“Why?”
“Because someone has to protect her.”
“Mia can handle herself.”
“If she’s by herself, she is going to get bothered all the time. If she has someone with her, then only the biggest assholes will try something. And this Orish won’t let them get near her.”
“Maybe I should go?” Ted asked himself.
“Nah, I’ve got this. And Kevin already left to see if he can clear out a few ghosties, so she will be able to leave the building safely.”
“Sometimes I forget just how hard it is for her. She hides too much from me.”
“It’s the nurturer in her. Also, I suspect she’s used to Murphy being around to have her back.”
“I’m not much of a substitute, am I?” Ted worried.
“You’re not supposed to be. You’re the man who supports her, waits for her, and understands her when the rest of us are scratching our heads. You give her extreme joy. I don’t know anyone in our acquaintance who is up to the task of being her husband, the father of her children, and has the humor to understand why we all would love to try.”
“She’s not fond of that kind of attention,” Ted warned.
“Don’t I know it. Right now, she’s missing – not emotionally missing, she’s made that clear - her fellow knight. Maybe Kevin and Fergus together can help, but they aren’t Murphy. Your brain has produced some amazing things to help her, but they are toys when it comes to the big boys down and upstairs. Murphy connected with Mother Nature, and the power is fucking him up. He needs Mia to balance him. They are two sides of one amazing coin. Each striking, but without the other, it’s not worth much.”
“What do we do?”
“I think maybe you should talk her into asking Nicholai to stick around, or Altair. She’s going to refuse, thinking that you’ll be bothered by them.”
“Maybe. But not in the way you think. I’m not insecure that they are going to whisk her away. I’m afraid that they are going to end me if I fuck up.”
“Must be what a dude worries about when he’s married into the mob,” Mason said.
“I appreciate your frank words,” Ted said.
“I appreciate you letting me hang around. Now I must be off to mess up the line of suitors. I mean, how can she even see them when all of this is in front of her?”
Ted threw a towel at him.
“Thanks, I’m going to need this,” Mason said and walked out the door.
Ted walked to the window. He looked down and watched as Mia scurried to the steps. “Mia, am I enough?” he asked.
She turned as if she could hear him. Mia looked up and waved at him.
Ted waved back.
She stopped and looked at something underneath him. Ted saw Mason run across the road to catch up to her. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. She refused to hold his arm, so Mason grabbed her hand. She tugged a few times and then resigned herself that he wasn’t letting go. The two started down the steps. Ted walked back and started to hack into the hotel’s security cameras.
~
Captain Waite listened to the farmer about the Wall treasure and, when he
