“You’re right,” Bob said, shielding his eyes against the glare of the sun. “At least a couple of them. It’s good to know they are human and maybe enjoying the place more than I thought.”
“It appears as though their dock has a diving board,” Jack added. “Too bad there’s not one here.” He, too, was shielding his eyes, and thought he could appreciate that at least one person was using a springboard to good advantage. Springboard diving was something Jack had done a lot of as a teenager at their family summer home. He had been good at it and liked it a lot. He’d not tried it for years but certainly would have done so if there had been one there at the Hiram House, and said so.
“There is a diving board on their dock,” Bob said. “I saw it when they had an open house for the town when the renovation was complete. But don’t be jealous! They have no swimming pool, no barbecue, no firepit, no beautiful view from the living room. You guys are getting the better deal, believe me! The only disadvantage here is that you have to make do with only ten bedrooms rather than a full dozen.”
Laurie laughed.
“You can use a different one each night,” Bob humorously suggested.
“Oh, right!” Laurie scoffed.
“Well, I’ll leave you guys to settle in and make yourselves at home. Jack, I’ll see you in Bennet Park around five. And, Laurie, I’ll see you at my home at seven thirty or thereabouts. Are we all good?”
“We’re good,” Jack and Laurie agreed simultaneously. They both waved after Bob gave Jack another brief welcoming hug and then headed back around the covered porch. Just before he disappeared he waved back at them.
Suddenly alone, Jack and Laurie looked at each other withdisbelieving smiles on their faces. “This all seems too good to be real,” she said, gesturing out toward the lake and then toward the swimming pool area.
“I know what you mean,” Jack said. “It’s so peaceful. But as nice as it is now, I have trouble imagining what it is like midwinter, especially in a snowstorm when it gets dark at four o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Yikes,” Laurie said. “It must be dreadful.”
“Dismissing that grim thought, let’s head upstairs and check out the bedrooms and pick one. Then I’ll bring in our bags.”
“Good idea!” Laurie said. “But wait a second. I have a thought. Seeing all these amenities and this huge house, what about inviting Warren and his new girlfriend to come up here and enjoy it with us. To be honest, I’m going to feel a little odd for just you and me to be rattling around in this huge, storybook house by ourselves. I know we haven’t yet met this new lady friend, but I sincerely doubt Warren would hook up with anyone who wasn’t interesting and friendly. Besides, with all this room, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”
“What a great idea,” Jack said with an enthusiastic nod. “I can even tell him to bring his basketball kicks. What do you think? Should I try to call him now?”
“Why not?” Laurie questioned.
Jack checked the time. It was going on three in the afternoon. Knowing Warren was on vacation, he thought there was a fifty-fifty chance he could be already out on the basketball court organizing a pickup game, but he figured he’d try anyway. He was pleasantly surprised when Warren picked up before the second ring. Unsurprisingly, he was on his way to the playground at that very moment. After Jack reminded him about him and Laurie coming up to the Adirondacks the previous evening, he went on to describe the townand their surprisingly swanky and spacious accommodations. “All of which leads me to make you an offer,” Jack continued. “And to be honest, it was Laurie’s idea. Since you’re conveniently on vacation, why don’t you and your new girlfriend jump in your car tomorrow morning and drive up here to Essex Falls and hang out with us for a few days. What’s her name again?”
“Jada Thomas.”
“Right! Jada! How could I forget. Except for having to do a single autopsy tomorrow morning, Laurie and I are here to relax and enjoy ourselves. The area is supposedly full of waterfalls and is beautiful in a rustic way, and this house as I said is huge with ten bedrooms plus a pool, a barbecue, and a private lake. And to cap it off, there’s also going to be some pickup basketball, which my old medical school classmate says is reasonably competitive. I’ll be playing this afternoon, so I’ll be able to tell you from experience later on today or this evening. What do you say? Are you at all interested?”
“Knowing you, I’m thinking I better come just to keep you out of trouble,” Warren said.
Jack laughed as he knew there was a bit of truth to Warren’s comment. More than once, Warren had indeed come to Jack’s aid or even rescue, especially one time Jack had been literally kidnapped from New York City and taken with ill intent up to the Catskill Mountains. “I can guarantee I’m not going to be getting into any trouble. It’s hard to believe how isolated this place is despite it being less than four hours’ drive from Manhattan.”
“I’m tempted,” Warren admitted. “To tell you the truth, I’m still fired up about that trip you invited me on to West Africa although talk about finding trouble, you didn’t do so bad then, either. Occasionally trouble seems to be your middle name, bro.”
“This is hardly Africa,” Jack said defensively. “If anything, it’stoo peaceful here. And I think you and Jada will truly enjoy yourselves, plus we’re eager to meet her, and this house is really a trip if you know what I’m saying. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I get it,” Warren said. “Fine, I’ll ask her tonight if she’s okay with it. I think she will be because I’ve gotten the feeling she’s the adventuresome type and happens to be on vacation as well. So, I imagine we’ll come, provided we can bring some New York steaks to fire up on that BBQ you described.”
“Of course you can bring New York steaks! That would be terrific. Bring whatever else you want.”
As Jack was terminating the call, Laurie flashed him a thumbs-up. She’d heard the whole exchange. “Good job. You handled that well,” she said. “I think we’ll be seeing Warren and meeting Jada. Now, let’s go up and pick a bedroom.” She then playfully tousled Jack’s hair and then evaded his attempt to do the same while heading for the door into the house.
Chapter 11
Wednesday, July 23, 5:05p.m.
Essex Falls, New York
Alexei looked over at Dmitry, who was piloting the Dodge Ram the Diehard Patriots had provided them. Although all three of his compatriots were driving him stir-crazy, he liked Dmitry a hell of a lot more than he liked Viktor and Nikolai because Dmitry never acted with condescension even though he, too, had done his final medical engineering training in Moscow.
“Where do you want me to drop you off and pick you up?” Dmitry asked as they entered the southern end of Main Street. The town was comparatively busy at that hour with a number of cars, trucks, and pedestrians.
