Chapter 93

Chapter 93—Jack prepares to move on 

11:58 a.m., Friday, December 30 

Booming from his phone even before he had lifted it to his ear was the all too familiar resonating voice of Captain Spencer. “Handler?”
“Yeah,” Jack said.
“I need to talk to you,” Spencer said, in a tone not appreciated by Jack.
Jack took a deep breath. “This is Kate’s boss,” he thought. “I’m either going to humor him, or kill him.”
Jack knew that he was not actually going to kill the man, even though he might like to—at least not right now, and certainly not with witnesses.
“I’m headed down to see Kate,” Jack said. “I would like to spend an hour with her, then I could meet with you. Say in the hospital coffee shop, around three.”
“Make it two,” Spencer said.
“I’ll be in the coffee shop at three.”
“Three it is, Jack. See you there.”
The meeting was set. And on Jack’s terms—that made him feel a little better. But forcing Spencer into an option two made the prospects of talking to a man that he nearly despised only a bit more palatable. Jack knew that it was imperative that he accommodate, but not patronize, Kate’s boss. It was important to his daughter. There was, after all, only one way that Spencer got his cell phone number, and that was from Kate.
On the brighter side, Jack was amazed at just how fit he felt after his sound nights sleep. He was not happy that he allowed someone to get so close to him, but he actually was not all that upset about it.
Keeping Reginald’s clothes, even though he would like to have hung on to them, could have caused him grief down the road had they ever been discovered. They would have been hard to explain.
The bloody note could also have been a problem.
Of course, Jack knew his fingerprints were all over the note and the clothes, that could present a problem to him, were it not a well known fact that the two men were good friends. So the prints should not be an issue.
Furthermore, should that note turn up in his possession down the road, it would be hard to explain away.
“All is well,” Jack reasoned. “I have a transcription of the note, and someone else has what could be all the incriminating evidence. That’s not a bad tradeoff.”
Jack then jumped in the shower, looked through his luggage for a clean change of clothes, and shaved.
Looking at himself in the mirror for the first time in a while, he thought, “Not bad for an old man who’s been through hell and back. … Now I get a chance to see my daughter’s beautiful smile.”
Jack paused for a moment, and looked up. “Reg, my friend, I have you to thank for that. My God, my friend, I’m gonna miss you.”
Again Jack allowed himself to release his emotions. Tears began flowing out of his eyes and running down both cheeks. He stood there for over a minute, weeping profusely. He made no effort to restrain himself, because he knew that he was, for the last time, grieving the loss of his beloved friend.
Finally, Jack was satisfied that he had paid his due respects, he went into the bathroom and unrolled a copious amount of bathroom tissue, and loudly blew his nose.
He looked at himself again in the mirror. “Kitty, my darling, your old man’s on his way. And he’s got his biggest smile for you.”
Jack briskly left the apartment, this time affixing his magnetic lock on the door before he left.
When he reached the street, he had a surprise waiting for him.