Title: One Last TimeAuthor: CNathanGunnChapters: 13, Words: 17,525

One Last Time

Chapter 1

I know what you're thinking; how could I go from driving a Ferrari on a daily basis to driving a Volkswagen? Well, that's the first rule of my new book on how to have a normal life after being a private investigator; always listen to your little voice. Going along with its suggestion for a nice sensible car was actually pretty easy considering that I had to give up the Ferrari when I left Robin's Nest and it was all I could afford at the moment. But it did make sense in its own way; it was after all just a car and it did get me to the naval base and back home every night, which was just about all anybody could ask for these days and it suited me fine. It really wasn't as hard to adjust to be a working man as much as I thought it would be either. I guess you could say I was the noble savage of our little group of friends; throwing myself at whatever came my way with complete faith in nature that it would work out the way it was meant to and that things would always be fine.

TC on the other hand, always knew what he wanted and that was something I admired about him and I was even a bit jealous of at times. He had worked hard all those years for other people to be able to afford his own helicopter and run his own business while still finding time on the side to coach pee wee football or little league, all in between doing favors for me. TC was sort of the foundation of our group; a constant, but subtle reminder that no matter what happened, you still had to put one foot in front of the other. After I left Robin's Nest, TC suddenly found he had allot of free time on his hands which he filled by becoming a foster parent. He picked up a couple of kids along with having more time to spend with his own and that pretty much sums up TC. He'd give and when you thought he was through, he'd give some more. In spite of that, I wonder sometimes that maybe I took a little too much from TC.

Now I know what you're thinking by now, that I must have been Mr. Excitement, bringing adventure to an otherwise humdrum daily grind in paradise and that I shouldn't be too hard on myself. The truth was I could be a bad influence most of the time and Rick was usually caught in the middle. Rick was a good kid that just kept catching all the bad breaks; his parents died when he was young and he lost his sister in a drug deal that went bad several years ago. After his parents died, he and his sister grew up under the watchful eye of the local crime boss, affectionately called Icepick. Rick has always been good with numbers, which was naturally put to good use by Icepick right up until we all served in Vietnam. Since then, Rick has tried to manage a relatively normal life, but I don't think he ever really got the hang of it and I know I didn't help any by asking him to get in touch with all those underworld contacts he was trying to forget. But it was familiar to him and gave him a sense of purpose, which is something I always felt guilty about. Rick always reminded me of someone's kid brother who was growing up in a shadow; angry and always ready to

prove himself. His marriage to Cleo had really been good for him. Rick had a heart of gold and that's why I liked him so much, but it was Cleo who was really able to make it shine. Rick had really jumped into marriage with both feet quickly becoming "Uncle Rick" to my daughter and even convincing Higgins to open the club's pool and beachfront every couple months to the various groups of foster children TC worked with. It's just a matter of time until Rick has kids of his own.

Well, now I really know what you're thinking. What about Higgins? Well that's just it. Higgins was still Higgins. After Rick's wedding I stayed on at Robin's Nest with Lily for about a month, trying to adjust to returning to the Navy and being a father for the first time in my life. That whole thing with Higgins about being Robin Masters and then telling me it was a lie had really bothered me. I had asked an honest question and I felt I deserved an honest answer, considering all we had been through. When I asked Higgins why he couldn't just tell me the truth, he said it was tradition. That was his way of saying it was a game. In spite of all the changes that were going on, Higgins still wanted to be the scheming villain pulling people's strings just for the fun of it. Higgins wasn't quite the master of tyranny that he had been when we first met, but I've always felt that the only thing missing from Higgins was a monocle, a little top hat and a mustache he could twirl while I had to barter for use of the Ferrari or one of Robin's cameras. Living with Higgins all those years was like those games you used to play as a kid; mercy or who could hit the softest. It was a fun and an innocent way of bonding with your friends, that was until someone got carried away and the other guy would end up nursing a hurt shoulder and hurt feelings. And that's how I felt about not getting an honest answer. We had some pretty bad arguments that month, but I had played games all those years too and I was finally tired of them and I was becoming upset with Higgins for not seeing that. Moving out was partly because of Higgins, but mostly because of me. I had also been playing games with myself my whole life and I wanted to see if I could hack it as an average Joe by holding down a job and paying the bills. I had suddenly found that I had things in my life like teacher parent conferences, daily commutes, paperwork and coffee breaks and while I loved every minute of it, it could kind of feel like one big hangover at times. I guess I just needed some space to deal with it all.

Now I never really went out of my way to avoid seeing Higgins, it was just that we didn't run into each other that often. I mostly saw him at the King Kamehameha club, usually when I was at the bar talking to Rick or TC where he would stop by and ask how things were going, which he did with his typical and dry British politeness. I would have felt allot better if he was mad at me instead of the cold shoulder I was getting. I suppose I let it get to me because I felt guilty for leaving the way I did, even though there wasn't much I could do about it.

That's mostly the way the last year had gone until I got a call from Rick a few days ago that Higgins was trying to get in touch with me. My little voice was telling me that Higgins' interest in me was anything but social and a short phone call later quickly confirmed my suspicions. Higgins had told me that someone had broken into Robin's Nest and made off with several tapes that he had recorded parts of his memoirs onto and that he wanted to see me as soon as possible. Normally I would have told him I'm not in that line of work

anymore, but something about his voice had sounded frightened and that wasn't normal for Higgins.

One Last Time

Chapter 2

I had left Lily with Mrs. Gribs for the afternoon. Mrs. Gribs was our neighbor and an older grandmotherly type that Lily seemed to take to. Mrs. Gribs would usually pick her up after school and does all those grandmotherly things like bake cookies and play the piano with her until I get home from work. I'm glad Lily enjoys spending time with Mrs. Gribs as I think it's good for Lily to have a stable mother figure in her in her life considering all the changes she had gone through too.

The drive to Robin's Nest was petty uneventful, but at least it gave me time to think. It's a trip I had taken many times before, but this time it felt different, like back when I had left home to attend the naval academy and I came home between semesters. It all looked familiar, but it felt different. But now, here I am, sitting at the gate, wondering if I can push the button on the intercom. Well of course I could, I've done it hundreds of times, but what if this was one of Higgins passive aggressive pranks or what if it was really something? Would I be able to juggle work and child care if it did turn out to be something? And what for? What did I owe Higgins? Higgins had his moments of great benevolence, but usually they were on his terms and just as quickly as they would come, they would leave. I think that's something psychiatrists would call idiosyncratic behavior; which I think is just a big fancy word for something you invent for yourself to put some distance between you and reality. Me, Rick and TC have come to realize life just isn't about us anymore, but Higgins hasn't changed and that's why I'm still sitting here in my Volkswagen outside the gate.

Suddenly the intercom buzzed to life. Higgins voice said "Now I say Magnum, are you coming in or aren't you?" Before I could even respond the gate swung open and begrudgingly I drove through it. The drive to the house was just as short as it always had been, but it wasn't the same without the roar of the Ferrari. After I got out of the Volkswagen, I stood for a moment and looked at the house. Just then the front door opened a crack. "Magnum, please.. quickly, come into the house!". "Higgins? Is that you?" I could barely contain a laugh. "Yes, please, now quickly come into the house". Resigned, I shrugged and walked to the front door. Higgins opened it enough to let me in and then quickly shut the door. "Thank god!" he puffed as he bolted the deadlock and drew the shades over the windows. "Well it's great to see you too Higgins!" I said, laughing, as Higgins went around adjusting shades and peering out of windows. "What? You're not even going to insult my car?" Higgins gave me a dumbfounded look and said "It's just a car, Magnum, now really.. Please, let us go into the study as we have allot to discuss". "Wow you have really flipped out.." I said, not being able to contain my laughter this time.

"It's no joke I assure you. The estate was broken into and several of my audio tapes that contained portions of my memoirs were taken and this is not the time for levity." "Ok, ok!" I said putting my hands up in defense, "you said that much on the phone, start from the beginning, what happened?" Higgins slumped into one of the leather arm chairs in the study; I sat in the other waiting for him to begin. "Two nights ago, I had just finished recalling a campaign in the Sudan and was proof reading the page when I heard a noise out in the foyer. I got up from the desk and proceeded to the foyer and there I saw Zeus, lying on the floor, unconscious, having been apparently shot by a tranquilizer dart" he paused, and then continued "again." "As I stood there, I was shot from behind, where I collapsed to the floor and remained there, unconscious, until sometime later. When I recovered, it was roughly four hours later, after which Zeus also recovered. I found Apollo out in the front yard by one of the windows, which is apparently how the intruders entered the house."

He paused again, this time taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose "at any rate, the study was a complete shambles when I awoke and the only thing taken as far as I can tell were several reels of tape that I kept in the desk drawer." "What would anyone want with your old war stories?" I said disbelieving. "I can only presume they were after one of Robin's dictations. What I find most troubling is that this closely resembles the attempt on Robin's manuscript from not too long ago." "You think it's the same people?" "It could be, but why they would think I had one of Robin's dictations, I don't know." "Doesn't Robin usually destroy all the tapes and copies of the manuscript once the publisher has it?" "Quite right, I can only fathom they were perhaps after revenge or desperate enough to hope that there was in fact a dictation on the estate." After he had replaced his glasses, he sat silent for a moment as if pondering something.

A second later, seemingly having arrived at a conclusion, he balled up his fist and struck the arm of the chair. "You know, quite tragically this is your entire fault. If you hadn't lapsed in your duties or completely neglected them by leaving the estate, this never would have happened!" "My fault? This is the whole reason I left Higgins, I can't get wrapped up in this stuff anymore. What if something happened to me? I have a daughter I'm just starting to get to know …" Higgins held up a weary hand to plead for me to stop. "I'm sorry Magnum, you're quite right. This whole episode has me shaken to the core; I have no right to blame you." 'What is the big deal Higgins? This sort of thing is normal around here, but instead you're running around shutting blinds, peeping out of half closed doors and yelling at me for leaving when you could have said something about it back then, but you didn't.." I threw up my hands in frustration and began to pace around the study, thinking. "You know, when this is over, I have to go back to my life."

Higgins looked up at me with the saddest puppy look I have ever seen, "What are you saying Magnum?" "I'm saying that when this is over I'll have to go back to my job at the Navy and being Lily's dad. I won't have time for games anymore. This is it, one last time and then I have to return to my life. The problem is, this will always still happen to you and I won't be here the next time because you are a demented little maniac who is determined to drive everyone either completely away from you or completely mad". Higgins stood up, "What is the reason behind this outrageous and unfounded attack on me, especially when I need your help?"

"It's you! This sort of thing is normal for you, but yet you're running around like an old lady! And you can't tell me why and you never say what you mean or want to half the time! The way it's so easy for you to insult me about not being here, about jerking me around if you're Robin Masters or not.. the way he's an expert with cameras, the way you are too, his love of auto mobiles, your love of automobiles! Remember the IRA assassin that stayed here! She just happened to be staying here the same time your former commander was here, waiting to appear at the trial of IRA members.. How would Robin even know someone like that Higgins! You met her at the bar at the King Kamehameha club." My voice started to trail off, "after everything was over, Rick told me she had been hanging around the bar all week. He thought he had a shot with her, but she was waiting for an opening to talk to you.. You probably had the guest house rigged with cameras.." I threw my hands up in disgust and started for the door. "Where are you going!" Higgins demanded. "I have to go now and take time off of work and arrange for some extra care for Lily. When whoever took your tapes finds out that it's your boring old war stories and not Robin's dictations, they'll be back". I gave one of my patented cheeky smiles and shut the door, leaving Higgins standing there, dumbfounded.

One Last Time

Chapter 3

Well I know what you're thinking; I was a little hard on Higgins. I did make up that part about the cameras being in the guest house, but the rest of it, I guess he had it coming. Blaming me for lapses in security at the estate had just been the one little excuse I needed to let loose a year's worth of mixed emotions, frustration, resentment and confusion. That was true about the IRA assassin though and probably for more than half of the other women who stayed on the estate. As much as Higgins tried not to be, he was no better than anybody else; sometimes even going so far as to body search a few of the female guests and being such a big fan of all those David Norman adventure films, which were little more than smut with a plot. Higgins was probably the last in a long line of people that had made an institution out devaluing others. Of course, we all did it at one point, calling people jerries, japs and charlie; it's what we had to do to survive. But Higgins had turned it into an art form and it was something that he could flip on and off like a switch. It's what Higgins did to survive life.

I don't think I was at the estate longer than a half hour and I still had allot on my mind so I decided to stop by the King Kamehameha Club and maybe hang around with Rick or sit at the beach before I headed home. When I got there, Rick and TC were at the bar and in the middle of a heated discussion.

"Are you kidding me? You have got to be out of your mind man." I could hear TC shout from the beach. "Hey guys, what's going on?" I asked. "This fool here says he wants to give Lily.." "TC will you let me tell the story…" Rick said. "Look, I'm just trying to take care of my favorite niece is all. See, after getting married and seeing I was all grown up and everything, Icepick decides he wants to spend the rest of his life making an honest buck.."

"Icepick, making an honest buck?" I laughed. "Yes, I'm serious" Rick continued. "Anyway he's now in the auction business, you know estate sales and antiques and all. So anyway, about a week or two ago he bought a storage unit from the widow of some traveling salesman who died and in it he had about 2 cases of Water Wiggles and I thought I'd give one to Lily.."

"Wait, wait, what's a Water Wiggle?" I said, laughing again. "It's this ugly, green head with plastic hair that you stick on the end of a hose that goes shootin' all around the place.." "TC, it's fun, the kids used to love 'em, it was the best selling thing on the market.." "Yea until the kids all started coming home with black eyes and then they took it off the market…" "Oh come on TC you've obviously never played with one before and all I'm trying to do is.." "Guys, guys!" I said as I held up my hands "It's fine, fine. I'm sure Lily would love one.."

"See?" said Rick looking at TC, "what can I get for you Thomas? Say anyway, how come you're not at work today?" "I took the day off so I could go over and see Higgins about a case." "A case? I didn't think you were doing that kinda stuff anymore Thomas. What was it about? That break in he had a couple days ago?" "Yea, I don't know what to think about it. I'll just have a beer, thanks." "Well, I'll tell you what" Rick said as he handed me a beer "I don't know nothing about it and neither does Icepick, I already checked." "You already checked?" I asked, surprised. "Yea, you bet, man was Higgins upset. I mean, he wasn't angry, but you could tell he was really worried about something. I've never seen the little guy act like that before and I figured it was the least I could do and all."

"Higgins, worried about something?" laughed TC "He's probably been scared to death in that big old lonely house ever since Thomas moved out, seein ghosts around every corner.. whooo! Ha ha!" "Yea, but isn't this like the third time or something that Higgins has been hit for one of Robins books?" Rick asked. "Yea, something like that I think" I said. "Well, then you'd think after the third time they'd give up if he doesn't have anything right? So why do they keep hitting him?" "That's what bothers me" I said as I stared down at my beer.

"Yea, so what are you going to do about it?" "Well, when they realize that Robin's dictations aren't on the tapes that Higgins recorded his old war stories onto, I figure they are going to make another attempt to find out if there's any more tapes lying around" I paused "or worse. So I plan on spending the next couple of nights staking out the estate." "Oh boy, well you can count me out" TC said. "It's ok TC, I figure this one is between me and Higgins anyway" I said slowly, still staring at my beer. "Man, you ok? What's the matter with you Thomas?" asked Rick. "It's just when I was starting to get the hang of things you know.." I said. "Yea, I know, but look, you solve one for old times' sake and everything goes back to normal, so what's the big deal?" Rick said. "I guess" I answered.

Rick and TC continued to argue about the things they always did, like what the world record for jumping over barrels on a rocket powered skateboard was and I just sat there thinking. Rick did have a point, but it was more than that. I'd now be spending the next two or three days alone with Higgins, the first time in a couple years and now after I walked out the way I did today. I'm going to have to call work and arrange to take the next few days off or maybe the whole week and see if Mrs. Gribs could look after Lily the next couple nights. I'm now beginning to dread all this more than ever.

One Last Time

Chapter 4

I spent the rest of the afternoon picking up Lily from school, saying I won't be in the office for personal reasons the rest of the week and arranging for Mrs. Gribs to stay with Lily the next couple of nights. I had managed to pack a few things into my old green dufflebag, put Lily to bed for the night and made sure Mrs. Gribs had all the emergency phone numbers as well as the ones to the various phones at Robin's Nest. Higgins had buzzed me into the estate without even so much as a word and I'm now standing here at the front door in quiet resignation.

Before I could muster up to knock on the door, Higgins opened it. "Hi, Higgins! Ready for our little sleep over?" I smiled. "I dare say I wouldn't expect to find you so enthusiastic this evening, especially after this morning". "Look Higgins, I'm sorry. I've had allot on my mind and it's been a tough year and all and you know this doesn't have to be so bad. It's been ages since we've spent any time together and this could be fun! We'll stay up late, watch scary movies and eat junk food.." "Ah yes, some of your colitis inducing chili dogs no doubt." "Do you know how hard it is to get Hoffman hot dogs here Higgins?" I said, throwing my bag into a corner of the study. "I hope you didn't go to all this trouble on my account, as all I had intended for this evening was working on my memoirs while you engaged in whatever sleuthing you had intended to do." "Well, I don't know, I thought maybe we could hang out and talk. But if you don't want to I understand. I have all this extra food and I guess I could spend some time with the lads, while we check the security on the estate and.." "You most certainly will not attempt what you're thinking" Higgins said, surprised. "Oh it'd be such a shame to waste all this food and since you're being such a Mr. Grumpy pants, I guess I"ll get started on those security checks now", I said as I smiled and walked out of the study.

I really can't say I knew what to expect when I got to estate, but I figured it was a good idea to try to make the best of things. At least, anything would have been better than to have to walk around estate by myself, even though I would have the dogs as company. It hadn't been really hard to get on their good side. Higgins used to wind them up and have them growl at me and chase me around just for his own amusement. But once he got bored of it, all it took was just to notice them and give them a little bit of extra attention. Some extra hot dogs here and there, a scratch behind the ears every now and then and throwing a tennis ball around with them on Saturday afternoons was all it took. They actually were very nice once you got to know them, but I just had a feeling that I could be at home spending time with my daughter. Walking around alone in the dark with nothing better to do or think about was the last thing I wanted to do tonight. I checked the security closet just off the kitchen to make sure everything was working. Everything was just about as I remembered it and it hadn't looked like Higgins had made any upgrades. I did my old security routine by checking the various security points around the estate, making sure nothing had been bypassed or tampered with. Everything looked fine, fortunately. I did

manage to pass some time by looking out over the ocean at the beach and I also skipped rocks into the tidal pool. I would have went for a swim, but I didn't bring a change of clothes or anything to take a shower with. Bored of everything, I went back inside to get something to eat.

"You're sure you've checked everything?" "Yes!" I said with a mouthful of chili dog as I sat in one of the leather arm chairs in the study. "Well, shouldn't you check it again?" Higgins questioned. "It's fine Higgins! Am I allowed to get something to eat?" "I suppose, as long as you don't interrupt my memoirs" Higgins said as he turned back to his typewriter. "Come on, you can at least turn on the radio or something" I said as I went over to the Hi Fi and tuned in our local radio station. When the radio came to life, Holly Hudson was in the middle of introducing America's A Horse With No Name. "Ha!" I laughed as the first few bars started playing "You know Higgins, when I first heard this song, I thought it said "a horse with no legs" "Am I to presume shell shock has what's been wrong with you all these years?" Higgins asked rhetorically, not looking up from the typewriter. "No, Holly did the same song back in Saigon back in '72 and I happened to be driving a Jeep at the time and I swore it said no legs! Now I figured that couldn't be right and I was listening to the song really hard trying to hear what it said and I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I rear ended this huge sargent major.." "A horse with no legs?" Higgins said looking up from the typewriter "that's preposterous." "No, no it's not, my Uncle Joe once knew a guy who had a horse that had been born with no legs. He used to rent it out to birthday parties; he would tie the horse to the trailer hitch of his station wagon and drag it around in a circle so the kids could get a good ride and .." "Oh, my, god! That's horrible!" "Higgins, Higgins! It's just a joke! Lighten up, will ya! You have really become the crypt keeper around here! Have you been using the wrong denture cream or something?" "Could you please, please not interrupt me while I"m working on my memoirs!" Higgins pleaded. "Fine, fine!" I said as I picked up my plate and left the room.

Although I hadn't used it in a year, the guesthouse looked pretty much the same and I felt right at home sitting down on the couch and turning on the tv. After flipping around the channels for a while, I turned it off and sat in the dark, thinking. A wise man once said that the nature of life was change. I guess he had a point. In less than a year I had gone from wishing something excting would happen tonight, to wishing nothing would so I could get back to my own life faster. I suddenly started thinking about old Charlie Chan movies I had seen as a kid and drifted off to sleep. I wasn't sure how long I had been sleeping when Higgins threw open the door. "Oh, my, god! Magnum!" "Higgins! Don't you ever knock? Can't a guy get any privacy around here?" "This is hardly the place considering you don't live here and further more you were supposed to be securing the estate. If you hadn't been asleep covered in cheese doodles you'd be aware by now that Mr. Gribs has been trying to contact you for some time. Mrs. Gribs has had an accident and Lily and Mr. Gribs are at the hospital."

One Last Time

Chapter 5

It was just past midnight and somehow I managed to stumble out of the guest house barely awake, get into my car and make it to the hospital in one piece. Doc Ibold had been working the night shift and he greeted me in the lobby.

"Thomas, good your here, Mr. and Mrs. Gribs and lily are right down the hall" Doc Ibold said as he greeted me. "Is it serious? What happened? Is Lily ok?" I asked as I followed Doc Ibold down the hall. "Mrs. Gribs had a minor fall resulting in a slightly fractured hip, but she'll be fine and she's resting comfortably right now". "Hey Chuck, how are you?" I said to Mr. Gribs as we entered the room. He stood up to shake my hand "Oh, fine, but Betsy here is a little worse for the wear, but she'll pull through." I couldn't help but laughing a little bit, Chuck was one of those grandfatherly types with that old fashioned "can do " attitude that reminded me allot of my own grandfather, needless to say I liked him allot. "Hey sweetie, how are you?" I said as I bent down to pick up Lily. "Is nana going to be ok?" she asked. "Yea, but she just needs to rest for a while and then she's going to be ok" I said. I went over and sat in the chair next to the bed and put Lily on my lap. "I'm really sorry, is there anything I can do?" I asked Mrs. Gribs. "Oh bless your heart! I'll be fine, I've been through worse.." she said. "What happened?" I asked. "I dozed off in the chair in the living room, woke up and thought to look in on Lily. On the way back from her room I stepped on that old rubber chicken of yours and in the dark it was so cold and clammy it gave me a frightful scare. I must have screamed bloody murder because I woke up Lily and she found me lying on the floor. I told her I had hurt myself and I couldn't move and she ran to the phone and called 911, bless her heart" she said with a giggle as she reached out to stroke Lily's hair, "she's such a good girl." "Yea... she is" I agreed "If you're ok, I'm going to take Lily home now and put her in bed. Yea, and again I'm real sorry for everything, if there's I can do, please, please let me know." "Oh I sure will Thomas, but I think I'm ok for now" Mrs. Gribs said. "Bye nana" Lily said. "Good bye darlin! I'll see you soon! Do you worry none!" Mrs. Gribs said as she waved good bye to Lily.

When we got home, it was late. So late that I wasn't even going to bother sending Lily to school the next day and we ended up sleeping in until about 10:30. Since we both had the day off, I decided to make it a father and daughter day. After getting up, we went and saw Uncle Rick for a little brunch at the King Kamehameha Club and then I took her for a tour of the USS Arizona memorial where I explained that that was the same type of ship that Mr. Gribs had served on in the Navy during WWII when he was stationed at Pearl Harbor. And since we were so close to Pearl, there was a little something I needed to take care of.

"I assume this isn't a social call Magnum?" Lt. Cmdr. Margaret Poole asked while weaving in and out of rows of filing cabinets. "Well, no. Not really. See, I just need a small favor" I said bashfully. "I thought you were through with favors" said Maggie. "Yea, but I sort of need one real bad see, I'm working this case for Higgins this week and I need someone to look

after Lily at night. Our regular sitter Mrs. Gribs broke her hip and she can't watch her so I really.." I began to explain but Maggie interrupted me "And I thought you were through with cases too.." she said dryly. "Yea I was but see, Higgins is really worked up about something and I figure I owe the guy and he's not the type to get worked up about something and.." I continued. Maggie suddenly slammed the filing cabinet shut and spun around holding a finger up to accentuate the point she was about to make, "just this one last time, Thomas Magnum. And only, and I mean only, because there's a kid involved." "Oh I swear, after this it's over, I swear.. If you could just do this, this one time it would be great, I, I mean Higgins really appreciates it.. I do too I mean, well you know" I said as I tried to avoid her stare "thanks allot, see you at my place around 7?"

After high tailing it out of there I realized I had pretty much the rest of the afternoon to spend alone with Lily. We spent part of the afternoon at the park and the rest of it walking up and down the beach. Just when we were about done, Lily had asked me if we could stop for ice cream on the way home. It sounded like a good idea to me and an excellent way to spend the last hour or two of the day with my daughter. Sitting there, looking out over the beach, eating ice cream with my daughter, everyting finally felt the way it should be.

One Last Time

Chapter 6

Eventually, all good things must come to an end and we had to head for home. I had just enough time to make dinner for the two of us and I had just finished getting Lily out of the bath when the door bell rang.

I opened it to find Maggie waiting patiently. "Hi! How are you? Why don't you come on in? Sorry about the mess and all, I've been meaning to ah.." I said. "Oh my god, look at this place" Maggie said as she surveyed the clutter around the house "no wonder that poor, poor woman had an accident. And this is no condition to raise a child in." "I've been really busy, I've been meaning to get around to it and.." I said. "It's fine" Maggie stopped me "I'll take care of it, now go get ready to do your PI thing." "Private Investigator" I corrected her. "Whatever!" She said with a laugh. Before I could argue the point any further, Lily had already taken her by the hand down the hall, eager to show Maggie her room. With a chuckle, I went to pack my old duffle bag.

"So I trust everything is fine with Mrs. Gribs" Higgins said. "Oh fine, fine, she just fell in the hall and sightly fractured her hip. She's going to be fine" I said with a smile, leaving out the incident with the rubber chicken. "Well, good to hear. I hope this evening will be free of further interruptions and I trust you've had a good night's sleep?" Higgins looked at me dryly. "Slept like a baby" I said. "You'll find the lads down by the tidal pool, they like to enjoy the sea breeze this time of the day" Higgins said as headed off to the study.

Last night I was positively bored and in being so I made a serious error and it wasn't falling asleep. It is really hard to stay rested when you have to get up at 5:30am to get your daughter to school by 7:30 and then be at your desk at Pearl at 8. After which you have to make dinner and get her a bath and put her to bed to do it all over again the next day. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that in the process a few things don't manage to get done around the house and you end up falling asleep on your old couch with a chili dog on your chest while working a case that you really don't want to either. The error that I made was that whoever it was that had broken into the house had probably figured that Higgins lived alone and that I should have let them continue to think that, instead of walking around all over the estate like I did last night. I still had about an hour till dark, so I decided check the security points on the estate while I still had light. Everything seemed fine as I walked around the estate with the cool wind in my face and the dogs at my feet. "All right lads, we have one last thing to check then how bout we head in and go bother Higgins?" I said with a laugh as I bent down to scratch Apollo and Zeus on the heads. The last thing I had to check was a junction box at the corner of the estate where the main road meets the fence. I figured if anything was going to happen, it would be here. Experience had shown that the wooded area at this end of the state and the proximity of the road provides cover and easy access in and out of the estate. The junction box connected the inputs from the sensors in

the fence and wall and ran them back to the computer in the security closet. Higgins had figured they had gotten in the last time by managing to jump from one of the overhanging branches over the wall and far enough into the estate that they were outside of the range of the vibration sensors and as a precaution, Higgins had had the trees trimmed away from the wall and fence. The junction box was located on the estate side of the wall right behind some bushes and looked just as untouched as it had last night.

I had several suspicions about this case that I didn't want to confirm. Who I was dealing with was the first. If they came back, that would pretty much reveal who they were and why they were here and that ultimately meant confronting Higgins. That simple line of logic was completely unavoidable and I knew I was right, but I didn't want to be. It was like that same feeling you'd get back in Vietnam, watching a bunker take a direct hit from a mortar round or watching a helicopter go down in flames. There is this cold, gut wrenching feeling you get when you know someone had just died in that bunker or helicopter. You weren't there to see it, but you knew; you knew that someones brother, father or one of your friends wasn't going to go home. That's how I felt right now, standing in front of the junction box. I wanted to open it last night even though the security computer checked out as ok. However, my little voice told me it wasn't and I didn't. I didn't because I was tired and going against my little voice bought me one more day of peace and quiet. In the long run, that one day wouldn't make much of a difference; you couldn't avoid fate after all. I suppose this is all part of those transitions in life my Grandpa Sullivan talked about; although this time, I wasn't sure who had the unfinished business. I took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

What I saw made my blood run cold; in the junction box there was a small battery powered circuit board that was wired into it with alligator clips. It must have been placed there on the way out; after Higgins and the dogs were knocked out and the tapes were taken. The device was fooling the computer into thinking that the sensors were working properly, even though they were bypassed; that's why everything looked ok in the security closet last night. I took another deep breath and started back towards the house.

"What do you mean, bypassed?" Higgins said, with the same gut wrenched feeling on his face. "I mean someone bypassed the security system by placing a computerized device in the junction box to fool the computer into thinking everything is ok, so if they wanted to come back they could just walk through the gate this time which means it's pretty serious Higgins" I said. "But why? Who would, could do that? Can you fix it?" Higgins said as he sat down while the bood drained from his face. "It shouldn't be that hard, I'll disable the computer temporarily and cut it out. But, why? You have something they want, or at least they think you do and they want it pretty bad" I said, very directly. Higgins gulped and then stammered "But I don't have anything... I swear..oh god." Watching Higgins stammer like that was like watching that helicopter come down in flames; except this time, something died in both of us.

One Last Time

Chapter 7

It was hard to leave Higgins in that condition, but the silence of the moment was as overpowering as a roaring fire and it seemed best to take a step away from it. Wanting to put some distance between myself and Higgins, I quickly disabled the computer, grabbed a tool box and headed back outside to the junction box. With the light slowly fading, it took maybe the next hour or so to remove the device and then reconnect all the bypassed wires, but it gave me time to calm my nerves and think up an idea.

"Higgins! Please, I need some room here! Ow!" I said as I stood up and hit my head on the underside of the computer desk in the security closet. "I simply want to know what you are doing as you could be damaging very sensitive and also very valuable equipment" Higgins insisted. "If you could just hold the flashlight steady you wouldn't have anything to worry about!" I responded. "Can you at least tell me what the devil it is that you are trying to accomplish?" Higgins asked. 'I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner.. I'm trying to tie in the lighting controls to the security computer. I mean, it should really be easy, because all of the sensors tie into the junction boxes, which is really just a couple of wires that come in through the wall here for each zone out on the estate and then they trip a relay which trips a low voltage controller which sends the signal to the computer here, and I figure it should really be easy to just run an extra wire over to the lighting relays for each one and..." I explained. "When the alarm is tripped for that zone, it would also activate the lights in that area" Higgins continued "interesting." "Interesting? I think it's pretty damn good if I say so myself" I replied "now, would you hand me the wire cutters please?"

It only took another half hour to finish with the wiring and to get the computer turned back on, but only a few minutes for the monotony of waiting to set in.

"Magnum! Will you please stop playing with the lads! It's creating an awful din and they should be out on the estate patrolling as it's well after dark now" Higgins said as he burst into the foyer. "Sorry, guys! Fun time is over." I said as I dropped the tennis ball which I had been holding onto. I opened the front door to let the dogs outside. "Well?" Higgins asked. "Well what!" I asked in return. "Shouldn't you be going with them?" Higgins answered. I hung my head in defeat. I said "Can I at least get my .45 out of the gun cabinet?" "Nonsense" said Higgins "Take the Sterling, you don't know what you'll be up against." "That relic? It probably doesn't even work and where are you going to get ammunition for it?" I questioned. "It's in perfect working order and it requires standard 9mm ammunition, of which there are two 32 round clips" Higgins replied. "Fine, but I'm still taking my .45" I said. "Quite" Higgins said with a sneer. Higgins unlocked the gun cabinet and handed me the .45, which I tucked into the back of my pants, then the sterling. Higgins pulled a shotgun from the cabinet and began loading it, "I suppose I will take up a position here in the rear, while you man the front, by the wall". "Quite" I said cheekily.

The night air was cool and I suddenly wished I had brought along a jacket. It was also very dark on account of how little moonlight there was, or at least what managed to shine through the overcast sky. "Ok" I said as I looked down at the lads "Zeus, Apollo, patrol!" The dogs sat there motionless, staring up at me. "OK, fine, you can stay with me but you have to be quiet, so mums the word lads!" I said as I sat down in front of small cluster of trees. Zeus and Apollo sat next to me while I tried to make myself comfortable as possible by sitting up against a tree. Sometime after what seemed like at least an hour of mind numbing boredom, I drifted off to sleep.

Suddenly, as if someone had thrown open the curtains, I was awakened by the flood lights and Zeus and Apollo barking and snarling viciously. Jerking myself awake, I caught out of the corner of my eye a shadowy figure trying to climb over the wall. Startled by the bright lights, it lost it's footing and slipped to land on it's chest across the wall with a loud thud. It let out a moan as it slipped from view over the wall. As quickly as I could, I grabbed the sterling and ran for the wall. Running at full speed, I ran up the wall in two steps, grabbed the top, swung myself over and landed heavily on the other side. The figure was desperately limping across the road towards a white van and right into the path of an oncoming car. "Look out!" I shouted, but it was too late. Hearing me shout, the figure turned towards the oncoming car and was struck dead on and landed several yards away. The white van sped away as the car screeched to a halt.

"What's happened!" Higgins shouted from inside the front gate. "Call an ambulance!" I shouted in return as I ran towards the figure. The figure was alive but unconscious; the headlights from the car revealed that it was a man wearing black fatigues and a ski mask. A quick search turned up his wallet and I looked through it for identification. The wallet didn't contain anything interesting except for an employee ID card with the name Allan Gentry.

Allan Gentry worked for a company named StarGuard. A hot burning flame of anger started to take over me as I crushed the wallet in my fist. StarGuard. I stood up and threw the wallet down onto Allan Gentry's unconscious body.

One Last Time

Chapter 8

"I'm not following; StarGuard you say?" Higgins said as he sat down on the armchair in the study. "Yea, Starguard." I said. "But why? What would they want? It was just a coincidence that the novel Robin Masters was working on at the time followed the scheme of theirs to sell laser communication secrets to the Russians." "It was just a coincidence" I said. "Then why?" Higgins demanded. I sat down in the armchair opposite Higgins and rubbed my temples "For the sake of argument, let's review the scenario. StarGuard specializes in providing highly trained security personnel to high profile clients. This puts them in a position that they have obviously been taking advantage of for extortion, blackmail and industrial espionage to name a few." "But what does this have to do with Robin Masters, me or the estate?" Higgins asked. "Well, think about it" I said entertaining Higgins question "getting the jump on Robins tapes or manuscripts to hold for a cut of the profits may be profitable, but that leads us to several problems. Once the book is released and they get their cut, they're pretty much out of work. Robin can always just write a new one, which then they would have to risk stealing, but by then Robin would have gotten rid of them anyway and he'd be waiting for another theft. One of Robin's books just aren't that lucrative compared to the risk involved and also compared to other information such as military and national security secrets, so that brings us to the point that they must have gotten a hold of some other information they want."

"For the love of god, what?" said Higgins as he slumped further down into the chair. "I don't know Higgins" I said sarcastically "What secrets could Robin be hiding?" "But they have the intruder.. Surely this case is closed?" Higgins worried. "We both know it's not that easy. There are others out there and this is far from over.."I said. "My god, what can we do?" Higgins wondered. "Well, I can do some checking and try to take care of things for now, but how long will that last? A few months? A year? A decade? I don't know. But I do know it's not something that can be solved by playing the strong and silent type" I said. "Why do you keep deferring this situation to me?" Higgins asked, his voiced raised. "Because, this is all about you and the way you choose to live your life, I can take care of things for now, but I can't fix your life. You don't owe me anything, I'm doing this because I want to, but you, you owe it to yourself." I said. "You have me at an utter disadvantage Magnum" Higgins said, his voice practically a growl. "The truth Higgins! I mean the truth! Be honest with yourself for once in your life!" I said.

It's really hard to let out your anger on a 4 speed Volkswagen when you're so tall that you practically have to twist your head sideways while you drive so you avoid hitting the roof when you go over bumps. Popping the clutch and throwing the Ferrari into gear as I floored it around a curve would have really taken the edge off, but the best I could do was settle for a chilidog, large vanilla shake and a plate of fries at an all night diner on the way home. All I wanted to do right now was get a shower and get into bed. When I finally got home and opened the front door, Maggie was in the living room watching TV.

"Wow, this place looks great!" I said, amazed at how much Maggie had done to the house in the time I had been gone. "It was nothing at all! When you come from a family of four girls and you're Aunt Maggie to fifteen different kids, you pick up a few things. Speaking of, tomorrow night I thought I'd take Lily downtown and buy her some new clothes, she's practically growing out of everything she has" Maggie said as she gathered her belongings. "You have three sisters? I never knew that" I said. "That's because your problem is is that you don't know how to relate to someone without wanting something. Anyway, don't worry about paying me back. I'll just have Lt. Stevenson take it out of your paycheck" Maggie said as she headed towards the door. "Oh come on, I'm good for it" I pleaded. "Ha ha, no you're not. I've known you long enough.. See you tomorrow!" Maggie said with a laugh as she walked out the door.

I couldn't help smiling as I watched the door close behind Maggie. She did have a point; I had never seen this side of her before. With a chuckle, I went off to take a shower and then to bed.

One Last Time

Chapter 9

The next morning, after I had gotten Lily off to school, I had to run downtown, put in a few requests for information and run by the police station to talk to a few people. After that, I had to stop by the King Kamehameha Club to ask Rick for a favor. Now I know what you're thinking, and, no it's not that kind of a favor; Icepick is out of the business remember? This is one favor I'm sure Rick would want to do.

"It's just for the day, while I pick up some information that's supposed to come in for me on Saturday. Lily isn't in school and Maggie could use a couple days off from me and.." I started to ask Rick, as I sat down at the beach bar at the club. "Are you kidding me? That's perfect! Ever since they opened up that new tourist trap on the other side of the island, you know where you get to swim with the dolphins and all, I've been fishin' for an excuse to take Lily. Oh man this is gonna be great! We'll take the King Kamehameha II and I'll get Cleo and TC and his kids to go and we can cook out on the boat.. and.." Rick said as he could barely contain his excitement. "Hey now, don't let me go forcing you into this or anything.." I said with a laugh. "Aw come on Thomas, ever since you moved off the estate I've hardly got to see her at all and.." Rick said. "No, no, it's ok" I said "I just happen to think it's cute is all." "Cute! Oh I'll show you cute, man are you asking for it Thomas, if you weren't my best friend and all.." Rick started to say but then stopped in mid sentence to look at something over my shoulder "Oh my god, Higgins! You look like a stiff that got hauled out of the channel, whats the matter with you? Are you ok?"

I quickly swung around on the bar stool to look at Higgins. His clothes looked like they had been slept in, his face was unshaven and his eyes were deep red and tired. Higgins took a deep breath, paused and then said "I'd like to speak with you Thomas, alone if I could please." "Yea sure, you can use my office" Rick said, staring at Higgins in shock "you want a drink or something?" "I'm quite all right, thank you Rick" Higgins said. "Yea sure, no problem" Rick said.

"What'd you sleep in your clothes?" I asked Higgins as we sat down in Rick's office. "To the contrary, I haven't slept at all" Higgins said "I was up all last night, thinking and I've come to the conclusion that I agree with you." "Agree with me?" I asked. "Yes, about being honest with myself" Higgins said "I can only assume, that you know." "Yea" I answered, looking down, not wanting to meet his gaze. "It's a charade that's gone on long enough and it's not something I wish to strain our friendship over. I just can't fathom on how to begin to explain a lie like that" Higgins said as he stared off into space. "The beginning is usually the best place" I said. "Quite right" Higgins said "My father was, as no doubt you know, a philandering ninny who was, as I felt as a young man, unworthy and incapable of appreciating the station in life of which he was born into. That difference is what lead me to the military academy and a life of duty, honor and circumstance. But eventually, as you journey through life, you reach a point where you realize that in your own unique way, you

aren't that different. In all those years of trying not to be like him.." Higgins paused. "You really painted yourself into a corner" I nodded. "Yes, indeed I had. That life of duty and service has left me with hardly any personal relationships to speak of and what friends I did have, have been lost in conflicts or to natural causes over the years. And again, now before me as a consequence of that life, I now stand to lose the ones that I currently posses." Higgins sighed.

"So yes, as you so aptly put it, having been painted into a corner my whole life and having just retired from military service, I sought to invent a new life for myself. I perused various businesses, served on various boards and positions of a bureaucratic nature, none of which really met with my fancy. I gradually grew bored of it all and took to writing and in doing so I was able to invent that new life for myself that I had been so earnestly craving. I suddenly found myself having a variety of sordid adventures which never existed beyond the typewritten page, but they were just as real and exciting to me none the less. Within the year, I had written three novels of considerable length and then sought to have them published. And quite tragically, the reality that is the life of Johnathan Quayle Higgins prevented me from doing so. Apparently, it would seem that the consensus of the various literary agents I had pursued, was that I would be a poor public relations figure; essentially put that no one would believe that someone such as myself could publish books of that nature. Beaten at every turn and just as weary, I returned home to familiar surroundings with the hope that they could afford me some comfort." Higgins paused again.

He continued "After several days at home, I was visited by a good friend of mine. If you recall, he was the chap that fell ill and from whom I was able to obtain the lead role in Hamlet at Eaton College. Well, as it were, it was because of that and several other related incidents that he was barred from the Royal Shakespeare Company; you see, for he was ill because he had partaken in too much drink the night before. So there we were, celebrating our reunion when it struck us that we had complimentary problems." "And he was the man that became Robin Masters?" I asked. "His name is Robin Masters, but the novelist, yes." Higgins continued "Needless to say, when we realized the unique nature of our problems, immediately we struck up an accord." "How could you be sure you could trust him?" I asked. "He has his share of vices, but he is a loyal friend. Of course that's also not to say that we didn't have our share of problems because of them. No doubt you'll recall the incident with the card games with Buzz" "Oh yea" I nodded. He continued "Or the unfortunate circumstance with Candice Wingate, with whom he had been fostering a relationship with, which of course he could not continue lest he betray our accord." "And that's why she tried to kill him at the party during the typhoon" I said.

"Indeed. Of course, as you know, the arrangement was a smashing success and I suddenly felt vindicated and as it were, that I could have my cake and eat it too." Higgins said. "All those kooky parties were your idea?" I asked in disbelief. Higgins sighed "Yes, you see they were simply palatable to Johnathan Higgins if they weren't his idea. Or at least if they weren't perceived that way. But that cake was made from a devious concoction of bitter resentment, frustration and self loathing. I had been desperately unhappy for quite some time; that is until you arrived on the estate. Of course when you did, I found a new bitterness spring forth within me as you naturally possessed something that was without

my grasp. But further still, as I got to know you throughout our experiences, it waned." Higgins paused once more.

"I've never taken a wife or had children; I've never even had anything close to a family of my own until you arrived" Higgins said as he slumped into the chair and stared at the floor "and now you've gone." "It's not your fault, Higgins" I said. "I wouldn't blame you if it were" Higgins sulked. "But it's not, I've figured you were Robin Masters for a few years now anyway. But it's just, your so hard on yourself. Underneath all those rules and regulations is a really nice guy Higgins, but you've just never let anyone get to know that person because everything to you has to be an arrangement or a contract" I said. "But what is the world without order?" Higgins asked wearily. "Look what it's gotten you! The trick is to know when to follow the rules and when to just relax and have a little fun. That's why I left Higgins, because I need to learn to start following rules, not because that's what I want, but because that's what Lily needs" I said. Higgins nodded his silent agreement as he stared at the floor.

"How was it that you came to know?" Higgins asked. "Well, I didn't at first, I didn't think anything of it really; I mean I was just so excited to be a permanent guest of Robin Masters and everything. After a while the first thing that struck me as odd was all the tape recorders all around the house. I mean they were everywhere: the bathrooms, the kitchen, the cars. I guess that wasn't really all that weird though because as you told it, Robin would dictate his novels and it made sense that way. That was until you started reciting your war stories to me all the time, several times in verbatim no less, and then it became apparent that you were the one that had the talent for dictation. The rest of it was pretty obvious, you really just had too much of your own run on the estate to be only an employee." "I see" Higgins said slowly "We had an rather elaborate rouse going in which I would dictate the novels, send the tapes to Robin and from which he would then dictate them into his own voice for transcription." "I figured that's what happened and that they must have heard your voice somehow and then realized that you were the author and not Robin" I said. "Indeed. So where do we go from here?" Higgins asked. "Well today I put in some phone calls and made some requests for information. I'm supposed to hear something back on Saturday, but I have a meeting with some people tonight" I said.

"Yea man! Sounds like a real good time!" TC said to Rick at the beach bar "Uh oh." "What's an uh oh?" Rick said as he turned in the direction of TC's gaze "oh." "TC, Rick, good afternoon" Higgins said. "Higgins" Rick and TC said together. "There is a matter I wish to discuss with the both of you. For some years now, I have been deceiving you. After much soul searching, I have been brought to this confession, of which I implore you to listen to with an open heart and an open mind. For the past fifteen years, I have been in an arrangement with the man that you know as Robin Masters. In actuality, the arrangement is, is that he is the employee and I that I am the employer. For you see, I am the real Robin Masters, or the novelist as it were." "Ok!" TC said with a big smile and his trademark machine gun laugh. "Yea, Higgins, that's fine with us!" Rick said laughing too. Higgins paused as if to consider something "You mean you knew?" "Yea, come on Higgins, we're your closest friends, it wasn't that hard to put two and two together over the years!" Rick said. "Oh, for the love of God!" Higgins said. "Hey, don't take it too hard pal, I mean Robin

Masters was such a phony sounding name anyway.." added Rick. "Robin Masters is his real name!" Higgins said, irritated. "Oh..." Rick said, embarrassed. "See? They like you for who you are!" I said with a laugh. "I'm glad that you all have found this episode so thoroughly amusing and I would love to stay and discuss the more intimate details of my life further with you, but I must beg your leave, for I am going home and going to bed!" Higgins said.

One Last Time

Chapter 10

After Higgins left, I hung around with Rick and TC at the bar laughing about the events of that day. We weren't really laughing at Higgins; I guess it was more of a relief that everything was finally out in the open and I guess that it was a little bit funny too, but only in the sense that we were laughing with Higgins, even if he didn't see it that way. After leaving the bar, I picked up Lily from school and made dinner for the both of us. A couple of hours later Maggie arrived right on time and the both of them went off for a girls night out shopping. After seeing them off I got into my Volkswagen and went to pay a visit to Allan Gentry at the hospital.

"Hi, can you tell me what room Allan Gentry is in please?" I asked the nurse on duty at the front desk. "He's in room 439, but I'm afraid you won't be able to go in sir" the nurse told me "He's under arrest and there are police stationed out side the room." "Oh, it's ok, I think they'll let me in" I said as I smiled at the nurse.

The fourth floor was empty except for the two uniformed policemen outside the door of room 439. As I walked down the hall, a doctor was coming out of the room and was walking down the hall briskly. "Oh hey! I'm sorry!" I said as bumped into the doctor, spilling the papers he was carrying to the floor. "Let me get those for you" Is aid as I bent down to pick up the papers. "Yea, sorry about that, you know us doctors, busy, busy!" he said. "Yea, I bet, what can you tell me about the patient?" I asked. "Are you a family member?" he asked. "Well, you could say I'm a really close friend of the family" I replied. "Oh. Well, he's still unconscious, but he should fine in a few days. It's better if you just let him rest for now" he said. "Oh well thanks allot, that's good to hear!" I said. "No problem!" the doctor said as he continued on down the hall.

I figured it'd be wise just to check in with the two police officers at the door when my little voice practically started to yell at me. "Since when do doctors wear combat boots!" I thought, angry at myself for not realizing it sooner. "Get a doctor! Check on the patient now!" I yelled to the policemen as I turned and ran back down the hallway after the impostor. Hearing me yell, the impostor broke into a run towards the stairwell, threw open the door and began bounding down the stairs. I chased after him, leaping down flights of stairs at a time. Upon reaching the ground floor, he kicked open the door and ran outside. I reached the door with just enough time to see a white van drive away and get half of a license plate number. Defeated, I went went back up to the fourth floor. When I got there, the hallway was a mass of confusion. "What happened?" I asked one of the guards who had been outside the room. "He's dead" he said. "What? How?" I asked, surprised. I don't know.." the guard said as he rushed off down the hall.

I had just lost a lead, got half a license plate number and as I walking to my car, it started raining. I mean to say, it started pouring. I was completely soaked as I got into my car, which fortunately still had it's roof unlike the Ferrari. At least that was one thing to be thankful for today.

"If you learned to drive properly this wouldn't have happened" Higgins yelled at me. "If you had had the rut fixed this wouldn't have happened!" I yelled back from the Volkswagen which was stuck in the muddy driveway. "Placing blame won't solve anything and it doesn't absolve you of the fact that you ran over my tulips!" Higgins replied. "It's dark Higgins! And the driveway is made out of mud, I'm sorry!" I yelled angrily. Higgins moved around to the back of the car with the lads following him playfully. "This used to happen to our Land Rovers in Burma quite frequently. The key is to rock the vehicle back and forth to build up momentum. Disengage the clutch, cycle the engine and when I tell you, release the clutch" Higgins said. "OK" said as I revved up the engine. "Release the clutch now!" Higgins yelled. "What?" I yelled back over the roar of the engine. "Release the clutch now!" Higgins yelled again. "OK!" I yelled back. I let the clutch go with a pop and the car snapped into gear which sent the rear wheels spinning furiously while spitting out a spray of mud as the Volkswagen sank deeper. The spray of mud caught Higgins in the face. Startled, he jerked backwards off balance, tripped over Apollo who was at his feet and landed with a wet splash in the mud. Laughing I got out of the car and walked over to Higgins.

"This is positively not amusing!" Higgins said angrily from the mud. "Oh come on, it is funny; I'd laugh if it happened to me." I said. "Well it didn't! Now please, help me up!" Higgins said as he grabbed my leg. "Higgins! Let go!" I said as I started to lose my balance. "Then give me a hand up!" Higgins replied. "Higgins, let go! You're making me.." I said losing my balance and landing next to Higgins in the mud "fall. Would you get off me please?" "I see it's no so funny when you're in the same predicament" Higgins said smugly. "I didn't grab your legs and make you fall down Higgins!" I protested. Higgins let out a deep sigh and feel backwards into the mud from where he had been sitting. "It's all for naught I suppose. What's to become of me Thomas?' He wondered aloud. "You know, that's the third time this week you've called me Thomas" I said surprised. "Is it? I hadn't noticed" Higgins replied. "Well, you could always give Agatha a call. I know she happens to think you're quite the catch" I joked. "That dreadful woman?" Higgins said with a slight laugh "I jest, however that was quite unnecessarily rude of me. No, I meant with this arrangement with Robin. Maybe it's time for him to retire. He has been after me for some time about it, he's quite fond of broaching the matter. He would say quite frequently "for the world may be a stage, but eventually you must take your final bow." Perhaps he's right and I should consider some sort of formal buy out.""Well, if you do" I said pausing to consider things "after this is over, I have a feeling things are going to get pretty domestic around here. But I still have to finish this investigation. You could come with me if you want, as sort of a last hoorah. And it may provide you with a sense of closure at least." "Perhaps" Higgins said lost in thought. "Well tell you what, after I pick up all that information I need on Saturday I'll stop by and fill you in. If my hunch is right, we'll both be in for one last hoorah." Higgins seemed to brighten at the thought of that. "You think it's time we got of the mud?" I asked. "Quite!" Higgins replied.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Maggie asked as I walked into the house. "Ah, I had a little fight with Higgns. No, no it was nothing serious, it's fine, really. Oh! And these are for you" I said as I handed Maggie a small boquet of Tulips "I sort of ran over them with the car, which is kinda why we were fighting. But anyway, I was thinking about what you said before, and you're right." "I see, well it's the thought that counts I suppose" Maggie said with a laugh as she gathered her things to go home for the evening. "I really mean it. It's all been great, really. I'm really impressed, really." I said with a laugh "I'll find a way to repay you, honest." 'And I'll see that when it happens!" Maggie said as she opened the front door. "But..." I started to say. "But better safe then sorry mister! So you can expect your paycheck to be a bit smaller this time!" Maggie said as she shut the door quickly behind her. I could hear her laughing playfully behind it at having had the last word.

One Last Time

Chapter 11

It was a quiet Saturday morning as TC pulled his van through the front gate of the estate, closely followed by Rick's Mercedes. Rick, Chloe and TC made the short walk from the drive way to the front door, which Thomas opened for them, smiling.

"Well is she ready to go?" TC said to Thomas "The kids are all in the van and we got a cooler all loaded an..." "Oh I'm sure she'll be along shortly" Thomas said.

No sooner had Thomas said that, Higgins came marching up the front hall at the the head of a small procession with Lily riding on his back and The Lads following closely behind. "Hup, hup, hup, hup" said Higgins "Company, dismount!" he ordered as he stood at attention. "Sit lads!" Lily said as she giggled, climbing down from Higgins' back. "In case you are wondering, we were merely reenacting a campaign in North Africa in which our company got separated from.." Higgins began. "Well it looked like you were having fun whatever it was" TC said laughing. "Yea come on, what are you trying to do? Steal my favorite niece away from me?" Rick said, cutting in. Rick bent down and picked Lily up "Hey Chloe, see, we got to get us one of these some day.. But we have to go to the same store that Thomas did 'cause I want one as cute as this one!" "Oh Ricky!" Chloe said, playfully slapping rick on the arm "one thing at a time!."

"Come on you guys, quit fooling around now, let's get going" TC interrupted. "Oh yea, just a minute, I almost forgot" said Thomas as he disappeared into the house. He quickly returned with a beach bag which he handed to Chloe. "It's just some, ah, girl, beach, stuff Maggie bought her, I'm sure you'll know what to do with it" he said. "OK..." Chloe started, not sure what to make of it "It'll be good practice then won't it Ricky?" "Oh you bet baby! We're going to have the best day ever!" Rick said as he opened the door. "Bye daddy!" Lily waved as Rick carried her out the door. "Have a good time! I want to hear all about it when you get back!" Thomas called after her.

One Last Time

Chapter 12

"I hope this isn't what you intended when you said last hurrah" Higgins said as he looked at the Volkswagen glumly. "Oh it is Higgins" I said smartly as I opened the passenger door to the Volkswagen. "Won't you at least allow me to take the Bentley" Higgins protested. "No, this last time is going to be on my own, my way and without any favors" I replied. Higgins sighed as he got into the Volkswagen "I suppose I can at least respect that." "Well, first up it's off to the DMV for some old fashioned non favor type of investigative work and then later I thought we could stop for ice cream at this neat little place I found with Lily earlier this week" I said as I eased the Volkswagen onto the main road. "Oh dear God.." Higgins muttered.

"Ohhh.. there's always a line!" I said as we walked into the DMV "and just when you join one, the other one always starts to move faster." "I'm sure if we have patience we will get there directly" Higgins said. "Ah but you forget about just plain good luck which is half of good investigative work" I said as I quickly walked to a window that just opened. "Can I help you?" asked the clerk. "Yes" I said "Id like some information about a license plate number, or rather part of one." "Are you registering?" the clerk asked. "Ah no.. you see" I started. "This office is for registrations and renewals, other requests will have to go to the office of inquires in the public records department which is on the 5th floor. Next!" The clerk said. "Plain, good luck eh" Higgins rebuffed.

"Well you know, sometimes trial and error is also a part of good investigative work" I said as we exited the elevator on the 5th floor "and so is plain good luck, see? There's no line up here. Ha!" "Indeed" Higgins said as he rolled his eyes. "Hi, what can I do for you?" The clerk at the window asked. "I need some information about a license plate and here is my Private Investigator's ID, it's still good for a couple months still, you can see by the date on it" I said as I put my ID on the counter. "Oh, no, that's OK I don't need to see it. It's, public information" the clerk said. "Oh, I didn't know..." I said surprised "Well, here's the first part of the tag" I said handing the clerk a slip of paper "and all I know about the rest is that it's a white cargo van." "Of which there are probably two thousand on the island" The clerk said matter of factly. "What?" I said in disbelief. "Well it's a very popular model of van with all the workers on the island and places like hotels and the airport.." The clerk continued. "Oh no" I said losing hope. "Can you tell us how many that match the tag are registered exclusively to commercial enterprises?" Higgins butted in. "That should narrow it down some, let me see" the clerk said typing on the computer "that brings us down to about 500." "That's still quite a number" Higgins said. "Yea but you may be onto something, how many are registered to Lazeronics?" I asked. "Well if I cross reference that and" the clerk looked at the computer screen "just one." "Ha ha! See where onto something! OK, so how much do I owe you?" I said as I pulled out my wallet. "Oh no sir, it's public information" the clerk said

handing me a computer printout "so it's free." "Really? Its that easy?" I said in disbelief. "Its that easy" said the clerk.

"You know I don't know why I never tried that before" I said getting back into the Volkswagen. "Perhaps because it was just easier having someone else do it" Higgins muttered. "That may be Higgy baby, but now I've got a new lease on life!" I said trying to rouse Higgins. "Indeed" Higgins relented "so as you're fond of saying, what exactly is our next move?" "Well, it's pretty simple really. We just take this VCR tape of the surveillance camera from the front of the estate that places the van in question at the scene of the crime and we match it with my eye witness description at the scene of the murder along with this new information and then we let the police take care of the rest. I also thought since we would be there you might want to make your own statement and perhaps press charges" I said almost running out of breath. "I must say that lacks the usual bravado of your schemes" Higgins said. "Well, it's the best I can do considering I have to be back at work on Monday" I replied.

"This brings back allot of memories" I said as I stood in the door to Lt. Tanaka's old office. Except that now, it was Lt. Dan Davis' Office and he looked up from the desk to greet us. "What are you doing here? We already got your statement and I said I'd let you know if we found anything out" he said. "No no, just a friendly visit this time" I said. "Well it better be because I'm not pulling strings for you or misplacing files accidentally" Lt. Davis said. "No, no, none of that will be necessary" I said with a smile "I just wanted to drop off some information on the rest of the tag number I was able to track down along with this surveillance tape from the estate that places the van at the scene of the break in and I'm sure you'll find that the vans are the same." "Oh yea?" Lt. Davis challenged "what makes you so sure?" "Because" Higgins interjected "the van is owned by Lazeronics, a company that specializes in high tech encrypted communications over long distances. Lazeronics is also division of StarGuard, a company that provides highly trained body guards to high level clients, one of whom is Robin Masters. And over the course of the last few years the estate as well as Robin Masters have been subjected to what can be considered crimes of opportunities." Higgins seemed to have noticed my surprise. "I've been doing some investigating of my own" he said.

"Yea I now all that, I worked a few of those break ins when I was a beat cop" Lt. Davis said. "Then you'll no doubt deduce from this new information that StarGuard is in an opportune position to collect information on high profile clients for the purposes of blackmail and extortion" Higgins replied. "I see" said Lt. Davis, taken aback by Higgins authoritative tone "if that's true, we'll have to call the FBI in on this one."

One Last Time

Chapter 13

Epilogue - One year later.

"And now we return you to coverage of the breaking blackmail scandal involving some of the world's most important people.." blared the TV in the guesthouse.

"Thomas! Would you turn that thing off and come on?" Maggie called down from the doorway in the guesthouse. "Awwww.." I said hanging my head in dejection "I wanted to see if they gave us any credit! I mean we practically handed the whole case right over to them in the first place! Who would have thought they would have used laser beams to transmit secret orders and messages across the world to a whole network of spies disguised as top level body guards and we're probably not even going to get any credit!" "Of course you will. Now please get off the couch and stop slouching! You're going to wrinkle your uniform!" Maggie protested.

"You know you're not even supposed to be in here! Isn't it bad luck or something?" I replied. "I'll take the risk" Maggie said dryly "now turn off the TV and get up here!" "Yes dear" I relented, turning off the TV. "Custom would dictate that is it inappropriate" Higgins began to say to Maggie from behind her. "I already covered that Higgins" I said as I was beginning to get annoyed. "Yes, well then Maggie, if you'll excuse us" Higgins said to Maggie. "Oh, yes of course" she said as she closed the door behind her.

"I was hoping to speak with you before things begin" Higgins started to say as he descended the stairs "marriage is a solemn affair and should not be entered into lightly. I hope you will forgive me for saying this if you view it as an intrusion into your personal affairs, but if you harbor any doubts about this or simply because you feel you need a mother for Lily..."

"Its OK Higgins" I said as I stared at my feet, not sure what to say. "You know, there's a point in your life when you feel like a big shot. You're young and determined and you feel like you want, no, you feel like you deserve the best of everything. Scoring the final touch down just as the clock stops, driving the fastest car or taking the most popular girl in school to the prom." I paused while trying to put together the feelings I had been thinking about over the last few years. "I still love Michelle" I continued "but it's a young, idealistic sort of love. It wouldn't have worked out anyway, Michelle knew that too." I paused again thinking about what to say next. "I just want a family Higgins. I never knew I did love or even could love Maggie. I mean, sure I had a thing for her, but I never slowed down enough to realize it before."

"I, I understand. You needn't say anymore" Higgins said thoughtfully "I also wanted to tell you that I have sold the property in England." "Really?" I said looking up. "Yes, I never quite got over wanting to be a" he paused "big shot myself, either. I've taken the proceeds from the sale and placed it into a trust fund for you and your new family as my gift to you." My mouth dropped open in astonishment "you can't be serious!" "Actually I am quite serious" he replied. "Higgins" I protested "that's too much!"

"No, it's not Thomas. You may have taken your vagabond's route and I mine of discipline and rigor, but we have arrived at the same conclusion: that it is the quality of life and not the quantity that matters. I've come to realize that I have everything I need here at hand and I've decided to dispense with such frivolities" he paused "one final piece of advice, which I believe is customary at this time, is to take a lesson from the old guard and that is to try and keep the romance alive and to cherish the mystery of life."

.

"Oh Thomas!" Agatha said as she clutched me in her arms "it was such a beautiful ceremony!" "Hello Agatha" I said, surprised. "Agatha, please" Higgins said taking her by the arm "there are people waiting to greet the new bride and groom." "Everything is so beautiful, I can't seem to help myself" she said clutching a tissue.

"Yea come on, don't hog all the action" Rick said as he stepped in to hug me "aw buddy you really bagged a catch this time! I tell ya Chloe when I get to be somebody we're going to have a big place just like this!" Francis, who was behind Rick, smacked him smartly on the back of the head "Ow, hey come on what'd I do?" Rick said holding his hand to his head. "The only thing that anybody ever got from that kind of talk is a pine box" Francis said pointing a finger at Rick. "Yea, well you turned out all right" Rick said chagrined. "I got lucky! And that's why I got out. Look around you, you are somebody! If I only had less than half the family that was here today.." he trailed off as he paused to linger on the thought. "Now get out of here" he said as he shoved Rick to the side "youth is wasted on the young! I'm very happy for you both!" "Thank you, Francis!" I laughed. "And Maggie you look beautiful!" he said as he hugged Maggie.

"Hey, it's little Francis!" I said as I leaned over to kiss Chloe on the cheek. "Me and Ricky and little Francis here are so happy for you guys" Chloe said "and if you ever wanted a good recipe for pasta fagioli you know who to call, alright Maggie?" '"I'll keep it in mind!" Maggie laughed as she leaned over to hug Chloe.

"I just wanted to congratulate you guys and let you know, like if you ever thought about adopting, I would be ok with that really" TC joked "and it'd just be me and none of the kids, I promise!" TC laughed as he leaned in to hug me and Maggie.

"Thomas! Congratulations!" Chuck said as he stuck out his hand. "Thanks Chuck!" I said accepting his hearty handshake. "Congratulations Thomas!" Besty said as she gave me a huge hug "I just new there was something special between you two!" "Nana!" Lily yelped out of excitement from somewhere behind me. "Whoo! Goodness gracious!" Besty said

surprised "there's my precious!" "Nana! I have two doggies and come see the horses!" she said leading Betsy away by the hand. "It's ok, I'll keep an eye on her! You two go on and enjoy your party!" she called out behind her.

.

"So, they had a party because the horse didn't have any legs?" asked Francis. "Now, I thought it was the horse's birthday" wondered Chuck. "No, that isn't quite right. At any rate it was funnier when Thomas told it" Higgins said lost in thought. "So what are you going to do with the Ferrari? You know what you could get for that at auction?" asked Francis changing the subject. "You know I hadn't really put any thought into the matter" said Higgins "I suppose if Thomas wants it, then he may have it. I always felt ridiculous driving it." "So then what are you driving these days?" asked Chuck. "A Bentley that perhaps is getting a bit long in the tooth" Higgins said woefully. "But you know, after all of this I may just end up buying another Ferrari!" he said with a big belly laugh.

.

"Oh no you didn't! Please tell me you did not bring that thing here!" TC yelled at Rick, who had changed clothes and was now holding a garden hose in one hand and a Water Wiggle in the other. "I was just gonna, you know, test it out. And make sure it was safe, you know for the kids and all" Rick said surprised. "Hey if you want to go and give yourself a black eye, that's all your own business, but if you think I'm going to stand here and.." TC argued. "Oh no TC, I bet this'll be real good" I said with a sly smile "go ahead and turn it on Rick." "Thanks Thomas. It's fun TC, you watch" said Rick as he bent down to connect the Water Wiggle to the garden hose. Rick walked back over to the spigot and turned the handle. The Water Wiggle quickly sputtered to life and eerily rose off the ground on a stream of water. "See? There's nothing to it! It moves around a bit and you get wet, it's fun!" Rick said as he chased the Water Wiggle as it bobbed and weaved around on the lawn. "Yea that's until somebody gets hurt" TC said. "Aw come on TC nobody is going to get hurt!" Rick said as he turned around to face me and TC. In doing so, he tripped over the garden hose which sent the Water Wiggle into a dive where it bounced off the ground and caught Rick soundly between the legs. TC and I doubled over with laughter at the irony of the situation and the sight of Rick lying, curled up in pain on the ground. "Sorry" I said between gasps of breath and laughter "we're really sorry Rick." "Yea real funny guys!" Rick groaned.

.

"I hope you haven't decided to get rid of the Queen Anne couch from the upstairs suite, you know it's always been one of my favorites" Agatha said to Higgins. "It has been laid to rest in it's current position in the hallway due to the unfortunate adolescent nature of two of Thomas' close associates. However it was supposed to have been placed in storage some time ago to allow Thomas and Maggie to take up residence in the upstairs suite" Higgins replied. "So I assume you'll be wanting to put your own personal touches onto the main house then?" Agatha asked Maggie. "Oh we're not staying that long, it's just temporary until we can have an addition built onto the guest house. And even then still, it's Thomas' old

bachelor pad and I'd be lucky then if I could even manage to get him give up half his junk" Maggie said with a laugh.

"Oh, I see" Agatha said dejectedly. "Well" Maggie said, noticing her change in tone "would you like to help out Agatha? There's going to be so much to do." "Oh if you think I could be useful" Agatha said hopefully. "Of course!" Maggie said "I could always use another woman's opinion and it would be fun to have somebody to talk to!" 'You know, when I was a little girl my mother worked within The Royal Household and there were very few children in the palace at the time and hardly any of them were ever little girls. And so one day I was invited to visit with Elizabeth for the day and we got on so well we ended up spending hours trying on her dresses. And ever since then she's always told me that I have very good taste."

"Elizabeth" Higgins said dumbfounded "Her Majesty, Elizabeth?" "Yes Johnathan, I've told you I'm friends with Elizabeth" Agatha said. "When" Higgins stammered "when, did you tell me?" "Many times Johnathan" Agatha said. "I would have recalled" Higgins said shocked. "Well where do you think I got my hat from then?" Agatha asked. "That's the Queen's hat?" Higgins said astonished. "I wore it on my birthday and you mentioned that you liked my hat. And then I said that I saw Elizabeth wear it during her Christmas message last year and I had told her I thought it was a lovely message and how much I liked her hat and she sent it to me this year for my birthday." Agatha responded. "I surely would have recalled" Higgins said in disbelief. "No, it's because you simply don't listen Johnathan" Agatha said. "Yea Johnathan, how come you never told me Agatha was so interesting?" Maggie asked. "I simply had no idea" Higgins said with his mouth agape.

.

"Oh come on Rick, it is funny!" I said as I leaned over to give Rick a hand up. "Yea never mind all that, whose the big shot pulling into the estate? Check out that getup!" Rick said looking at something behind me. I turned around to see a long white stretch limo parked halfway up the driveway in front of which a short figure wearing a white suit was putting on a ridiculously over sized ten gallon hat. "Hey" I said "it's Robin!" In the distance I could see Higgins and several other people walking over to greet him. I left Rick and TC as I lightly jogged across the lawn to the limo.

"And Thomas!" he said in that Orson Welles voice of his as he turned to greet me. "Congratulations!" he said hugging me around the midsection. "Hello Robin" I said surprised. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been here sooner. Bad weather you know, torrential rain! I told the stewardess we must quickly get out of it and into a dry martini!" "I'm glad you could make it!" I said laughing. "Actually, in all seriousness I was detained at a press conference at which I declared my intent to dispense with this charade between Johnathan and myself and that I was returning here to settle the matter, post haste!" Robin said.

"You what?" Higgins demanded "Once again you've forced my hand! Ever since The Adventure of the Lost Idol you've been doing this to me!" "Done what?" asked Rick as he and TC finally caught up with the group. "Manipulated me! That is exactly how I got to be stuck

with him!" Higgins said as he gestured at me. "It was simply for your own good Johnathan! You refuse to be honest with yourself" Robin explained "the era of pulp fiction has long past us by and in the meantime with which you've walled yourself up in this tomb you've made out of the estate and you've barely written all but a scant few of the thinnest novellas in the past fifteen years while working on your memoirs! Why do you think I've been sending all those writers and artists to the estate over the years?"

"I can only assume to drive me mad" Higgins glowered. "It was to get you to loosen up, Johnathan and have a little fun!" Robin laughed "you've always had such a stick up your back side, even at all those parties you claimed were my idea!" Robin's tone changed drastically "nevertheless, you've had the papers drawn up for well over a year now. I think it's time that we give our final bow and enjoy the rest of the party with our little cast of players."

Higgins sighed and then said glumly "You're quite right of course. You'll have to forgive me, this moment is not something I have been looking forward to." "It's just change Johnathan and not the end of the world" Agatha said as she put her arm around Higgins' shoulders.

It was approaching twilight and the sound of the wedding band tuning up could be heard drifting over the lawn, when suddenly the trees and bushes sprang to life with the glow of a thousand tiny lights.

"My Johnathan, it's beautiful!" Agatha said. "Indeed it is" Higgins replied. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to dance in the moonlight under all the lights?" Agatha wondered aloud. Higgins considered her notion "Yes, it would. I haven't danced in ages."

"That is some crazy getup you got yourself there" Chuck said walking up to Robin with Betsy and Lily. "Do you like it?" Robing asked "I have three more in the limo!"

"The Adventure of the Lost Idol?" TC asked me surprised. "What, I never told you guys about that?" I said as I leaned over to pick Lily up. "No!" said Rick. "Well, I'd love to tell you about it guys" I said as I put my arm around Maggie and started walking towards the dance floor "but right now I'm going to go dance with my Wife and daughter."

"That's really the Queen's hat?" wondered Higgins as he walked arm in arm with Agatha. "Yes, Johnathan!" Agatha laughed.

The End...?

* Author's Note:

Finally it's finished! I'm sorry it took so long.. This is the first large scale thing I have written and I apologize if the editing seems rough or inconsistent. But you made it to the end and I thank you! Please let me know what you think.

Thank you again for reading.