Milt walked into the courthouse on time, although it hadn’t been easy. Maxine was serious about the problem he faced with the stores and the fact that their income might soon be going away – for about thirty seconds. Then she was back on her hysterical jag about wanting to see Petra, how she needed to find another guy so she could have a big wedding that went right this time.

There was no getting her off of the subject, and Milt knew that he was going to need some sleep, because he didn’t think the judge would be one bit happy if he nodded off and started snoring in the jury box. This disaster with the stores was going to be bad enough as it was and thirty days in the slammer wouldn’t simplify things a bit.

Finally he had decided that the combination of sleep, Maxine, and him wasn’t going to work. He needed support, not hysterics, so he packed a single large suitcase with what he thought he might need for the jury duty, got in the car, and found a motel near downtown to try to sleep through the rest of the night. He might not be able to afford it if things were as bad as they’d appeared at the meeting at the Haviland Street location the night before, but he figured that while he had it, he might as well spend it usefully.

At least this stint of jury duty would give her a chance to settle down and start thinking again. If she didn’t – well, that would make it easier for him to just sell the stores for what he could get out of them, try to pay off a few people, then go away to someplace where he couldn’t be found, maybe someplace where it was warm. There were advantages to being a homeless bum in a warm climate, and one of them was that he wouldn’t have to put up with the crap she’d put him through. He realized he should have dumped her back when Royce found them together. He’d only had two stores then, but life had been a whole hell of a lot simpler back in those days.

In spite of having a new but welcome housemate, Royce got up as early as normal the next morning, did his workout at Josie’s, and went into the office about like normal. He had expected that he would have a meeting with Petra, but he had never expected it to go as well as it had. Not everything had been ironed out after their ten years of near-separation, but at least they’d made a good start.

While it was nice to have Petra back with him, he knew that he couldn’t expect it to last for a long time. Realistically, she was only catching her breath and trying to repair some damage; at some point she was bound to meet some nice young man, and sooner or later she’d go away with him. He couldn’t say that he was anxious for it to happen, but it probably would happen and she would be better off for it in the long run. That meant he had to enjoy her being around while he could.

At least he hoped that she would do a better job of picking a new guy than she had done with the last one. Someone solid, someone ambitious, and maybe someone already established. The heck of it was that he knew there weren’t a lot of guys like that around; the good ones got picked off early, just like the good women. It was a hell of a lot harder the second time around, and he only had to look in the mirror to know that.

He settled down at his desk with a fresh mug of coffee just like always, and started on the paperwork that was waiting there for him. There was a lot of it, as usual, and he vaguely thought that he was going to have to find some way to not have such a big load of it. After all, he’d set things up the way they were so he would have something to do with all of his free time. Now, he had things to do with that time and he needed to have the time to do it.

Now that things were settling down with RJ Corporation and the new stores, maybe he could get Jeremy back to work on being his assistant and troubleshooter, but somehow in his gut he realized that couldn’t be a permanent solution. The new stores were going great guns and the initial reports were promising, but it was too early to tell just how successful they were going to be. The Hot Dog Hut was especially promising, mostly because they realized that they were expanding into a market that was largely untapped. If over the next few days they decided to follow up on the idea before somebody else noticed and got on the bandwagon, it was clearly going to have to be Jeremy’s job; bringing him back into Pafco operations would spread him far too thin.

On first glance it was tempting to bring Petra into the office, but he rejected it almost immediately, just on the fact that she didn’t know what she would need to know to step into Jeremy’s job, or something else they might put together to help both of them out. There was no reason she couldn’t learn it but she wasn’t ready yet, which was why he’d suggested having her work at one of the supermarkets. In a couple of years she might have some inkling of what was really involved, but that didn’t help things now.

He also thought briefly about getting Maria in to do the job, but rejected it as well. She probably could do it and do a fine job of it, but their relationship was too new and there was no guarantee that it was going anywhere. Even if they knew each other a lot better, it still probably wouldn’t be a good idea to let business and personal lives interfere with each other.

It wasn’t something that had to be settled today, or even this week, but it was something he knew he needed to be thinking about.

There was something else that needed thought, and that was getting Petra’s stuff out of her mother’s house. That was probably going to be a mess any way you looked at it. It was something that had been on his mind since he got up that morning, and as soon as the clock passed nine, he picked up the phone and called Paul Meyerson. “Good morning, Royce,” the detective said cheerfully when he heard his voice. “I presume you’re calling because you’ve got some other mischief or mayhem in mind. How did that last deal work out?”

“Just fine. In fact, better than I expected. After all the hassles got worked out, I have my daughter living with me now. She had her fill of her mother, and she was, well, I can’t say relieved to find out what a jerk Barry really was.”

“He’s not the worst there is out there, I can tell you that. So what do you need done today?”

“It’s actually fairly simple. Her mother has turned into a real nutcase, and she wants to get her stuff out of the house without it turning into a fistfight. I was wondering if maybe those guys I called ‘Moe’ and ‘Curly’ might be able to help out.”

“That shouldn’t be any problem. They do that sort of thing every now and then, and you might not even have to pay for it.”

“I’m willing to pay if I need to.”

“It’s part of their job. It’s called a ‘police officer civil standby.’ It won’t be the first time someone has to get stuff out of their house in the face of someone who’s about ready to kill them. It happens in divorces all the time.”

“Yeah, I ought to have known that. I guess my mind is running in a different channel this morning. How hard is it going to be to set up?”

It didn’t take long for Milt to understand the gist of the trial, although he was sure it was going to take days to get through it all.

It seemed that when Zimmerman came home and found his wife in bed with her lover, he got enraged, grabbed his .357 Magnum, and fired a single warning shot to get their attention. The only problem, or so he claimed, is that he wanted to make sure he got their attention and tried to fire close to them, and got a little too close. The full metal jacket round went right through the guy’s body, taking out his heart along the way, and then into his wife’s skull, which took care of her as well. Not bad shooting for lousy aim, Milt thought.

The problem was that while Zimmerman admitted that he’d done it – and more or less indicated that he would be willing to do it again if he had it to do over again – there was some question of what he was guilty of. The prosecutor wanted the jury to believe that it was totally premeditated, which meant first degree murder, which means life in the slammer. The defense argued that it was a simple accident brought on by the stress of the situation, and was trying for a temporary insanity defense. It seemed to Milt that they ought to have been able to plea-bargain it down to manslaughter, but the prosecutor wanted a high-profile murder conviction to show to the voters, so he hadn’t been willing to do much negotiation.

Milt didn’t know what to think, but was just glad that Royce hadn’t had a .357 Magnum with him when he found him in bed with Maxine that time. That was going to make things even more difficult for him to make up his mind.

Even as he listened to the attorneys drone on with their opening statements his mind was wandering. Mostly it wandered to how the shops were doing, and how well Mary Ann was doing at fixing things. He figured she would do her best, but suspected that her best was going to be nowhere near good enough.

Petra wasn’t sure how well this was going to work, other than to know for sure that her mother was going to freak out beyond all comprehension. But right at the moment that didn’t matter, with Sergeant Bill Henson – who her father knew as “Curly” – and Sergeant Sean O’Toole, also known as “Moe,” standing next to her as she rang the doorbell.

The door opened in a few seconds, and her mother immediately started to gush, “Oh, Petra! I’ve been so worried about you! I’m glad these policemen found you. Now we need to sit down and have a long talk and see what I can do to get you over how devastated you must be . . .”

“No, Maxine,” Petra said. “There won’t be any of that. I came to get my stuff so I can move out, and these officers are here to make sure you can’t stop me.”

“Move out! How can you even think about moving out? After all I’ve done for you! You need your mother at a time like this . . .”

She continued on as Sergeant Henson said firmly, “Ma’am, please step aside, and we can get through this without any fuss.”

“But I can’t let her move out. I won’t . . .”

“Step aside, Ma’am,” Henson repeated. “This won’t take long, just long enough to get her things.”

Maxine didn’t settle down, but became even more agitated, so Henson stepped forward with O’Toole right next to him. She instinctively backed off into the room, so Petra stepped in, bringing with her three young men, who were off-duty bag boys from the nearest Pafco. “Come on, guys,” she said. “This won’t take long.”

It really didn’t take long, since Petra already had most of her stuff packed for her planned move with Barry. It just consisted of a few bags and boxes, some hanger clothes and the like. All the while her mother continued ranting and screaming at her that she couldn’t leave, that Petra had to listen to her, but the officers kept her away from Petra and her helpers.

“Ma’am,” Henson said more than once, “If you’ll just settle down this will soon be over with and we’ll be on our way.”

Finally, the last load went out. “That’s it,” Petra told her helpers. “Bye, Maxine,” she added to her mother. “I hope I don’t see you again.”

“Why are you calling me Maxine? I’m your mother.”

“You lost that status when I found out what you did to Daddy,” Petra said angrily. “Don’t expect to see me again.”

“But Petra! You can’t leave!” Maxine cried. “I won’t let you leave.”

With that, she tried to push past the two officers, who stepped into her way. “Ma’am, just settle down,” O’Toole said. “She’s an adult. She can leave if she wants to, and you have nothing to say about it.”

“But she’s my little girl!” Maxine said frantically, starting to scratch at O’Toole, who blocked her.

“All right, that’s about enough of that,” O’Toole said calmly. “You have crossed the line, Ma’am. That constitutes assault on a police officer, and you’re under arrest.”

“You can’t arrest me!” she cried, as Henson grabbed her arms from behind and got handcuffs on her.

“Yes, I can, and I just did,” the officer said. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. You can fight us or you can go quietly, but you’re going downtown however we have to do it.”

With that, he started her toward the waiting police car, she did not go quietly. “Petra, stop them!” she yelled. “I’m your mother. You can’t do this to me!”

“Actually, Maxine, I think you mostly did it to yourself,” Petra smiled. “Now you’re paying the price.”

“Uh, Miss,” Henson said. “Under the circumstances, if there’s anything else you need from here this would be a good time to get it.”

“I think I’m good,” Petra said calmly. “But thanks for your assistance.”

“Just part of the job, Miss. Frankly, Sean and I have seen a lot worse. This was pretty easy. Would you be so kind as to lock the place up before you leave?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” she said. “I’m going to leave my key here too, for what it’s worth.”

“Your choice, Petra. Say hello to your father for us, please.”

“You know my father?”

“We worked with him briefly, but I think maybe he’d better be the one to tell you that story.”

“So all in all,” Jeremy told Royce later that morning, “it’s looking pretty good. I know Sunday wasn’t much of a test, but all the stores were well above our projections yesterday. It’s too early to tell how it’s going to go in the long run, but it looks promising so far. The Hot Dog Hut looks especially good.”

“Good. I thought that might happen. It’s still a little early to be making any plans for expansion, but I think we need to be thinking about it.”

“I agree it’s too early, especially with what happened to the Wilson stores yesterday. That probably skewed the figures our way a little.”

“What’s this?”

“It seemed the health department gave them a visit yesterday, and from what I hear they weren’t very nice. Two stores got red-tagged, and I noticed neither of them were open today. I have no idea how long that will last, but it obviously added to our sales figures.”

“Well, we got lucky on that one,” Royce said, figuring that Milt had to be just about fit to be tied over that one – if he even knew about it. According to Benson’s phone call the afternoon before, Milt was going to be sitting in a courtroom the next few days. Royce made up his mind to keep his mouth shut around Jeremy about that, since he didn’t know anything about the lawyer’s harassment campaign. The health department inspection might have fallen out of that, but he didn’t know and didn’t want to find out. “I agree that it’s going to mess up the figures but it doesn’t necessarily invalidate them. We need to keep a careful eye on things, though. Jeremy, you’ve done well on this, and the numbers prove it.”

“Thanks,” the younger man said. “It has been fun to do something different. It’s nice to have a new challenge.”

Royce had not gotten far enough along in his plans of how he was going to reorganize the top office, but it was clear that Jeremy was going to be a big part of whatever happened. “Like I said, be thinking about what we might want to do next, I’m sure you’ll be a big part of it.”

He was starting to say more, but his intercom buzzed. “Royce, your daughter is here to see you,” Hazel said. “At least I think she’s your daughter. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her.”

“Send her in, and thanks, Hazel.”

“I can go,” Jeremy said, starting to get to his feet.

“No, stick around. This might only take a minute, and you might like to meet her, anyway. I’ll warn you, though, after her wedding got screwed up she might on the rebound and be looking for a replacement guy.” Even as he said it, he realized that she would find it hard to find a much better guy than Jeremy, but he resolved that he as Daddy was going to keep his fingers off and let nature take its course.

The door opened and Petra walked in. “Hi, Daddy,” she said. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Not anything we can’t put off for a few minutes. Petra, I probably ought to introduce you to Jeremy Wright. He’s my main assistant around here, and he’s the one mostly responsible for the new stores.”

“I’m pleased to meet you,” she said formally, but Royce noticed that she was giving Jeremy the eye. While he couldn’t get a look at Jeremy, he was pretty sure the reverse was true. “Daddy was saying last night that you were doing a great job for him.”

“I couldn’t get along without him,” Royce said. “He’s got bigger things to come in his future, I’m sure. So did you get moved out all right?”

“Yeah, Daddy. That went really well. Those two big cops were a big help, and those bag boys you recruited for me made it easy.”

“Just out of curiosity, how did your mother take it?”

“Not very well,” Petra replied with an evil grin. “In fact she got so out of hand they had to arrest her. God, am I ever glad I got out of there.”

“I’m glad you did,” he smiled. “You’re going to be better off for it. So what are you planning for this afternoon?”

“I’ve got a lot of stuff to unpack and get settled in. Daddy, I thought about what you said last night, and you were right. If you still want me to, I’ll be glad to work at one of the stores.”

“All right, I’ll get it set up,” he said. “I can’t tell you where just yet.” He turned to Jeremy and explained, “We talked it over, and she’s going to start at the bottom at one of the stores and work her way up. I think we’ll do it on the management trainee program, rather than just having her stock shelves or something for the next few years.”

“That’s the way to learn the business,” Jeremy said. “I pretty much did it that way while I was working through college. It’s taken a while but it was worth it.”

“It’s about lunchtime,” Royce observed. “Why don’t we all run across the street and have lunch together? I’m sure we can all find things to talk about.”

“Sure, Daddy,” Petra smiled. “I’d like that.”

“I was just thinking about lunch myself,” Jeremy agreed. “It sounds like a great idea to me.”

While Royce, Petra, and Jeremy were enjoying their restaurant lunch, Milt wasn’t enjoying his. It was a lousy lunch, at least what there was of it, and he wasn’t the only one of the jurors who was upset about it, not that there was anything they could do about it.

One of the other jurors complained about the poor quality and the fact that there was so little of it to the bailiff who was overseeing them, but all they got for a response was, “I can’t help it. It’s what there is. It’s the same thing that gets served at the jail across the street, and the lowest bidder supplies it. You know what that means.”

“Is there any chance that dinner is going to be any better?”

“Not likely. In fact, it may be worse. Like I said, lowest bidder.”

“Is there any chance I could send out for a pizza? Or maybe Chinese?”

“We do let you do that,” he smiled. “You wouldn’t be the first jury to do it, either. Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t make the rules and I’m not responsible for the food.”

There was no doubt that this was going to be a long, long week.

At least they let people make phone calls on their lunch break, although the bailiff monitored them to make sure they weren’t talking about the trial, not that there had been anything much happen yet other than an almost-sickening recital of autopsy results on the two victims. So they were dead, so what? Everybody knew that, but that didn’t make the photos displayed of the damage any less hard to take without their stomachs churning.

Milt did not get a long time to use the phone, but figured he’d better use his time wisely. Just to be on the safe side, he called Mary Ann first; she reported that they had almost everything out of the Peavine Street store and she would have the rest of it done that afternoon. The pest control guy had showed up at Marcie’s location, and had sprayed everything down good, although he said he hadn’t seen much sign of cockroaches, either. With his certification, Marcie had called for a re-inspection but there was no idea of when it would happen.

Milt asked how the sales were going. Mary Ann told him that they were lousy, well under a normal day, but that the Sandy’s Subs locations seemed to be pretty busy, and once again there was a lunchtime line out the door at the Hot Dog Hut.

“It sounds like you’ve done everything I could ask for,” Milt told her. “Just hang in there. It ought to lighten up in a few days. I’ll try to call back tonight, and maybe we can talk for a little longer.”

There were other jurors waiting to use the phone, but Milt called home just to see if Maxine was all right, but got no answer. There wasn’t much else he could do, so he handed the phone off to the next person in line.

Mary Ann clicked off her cell phone with a bad feeling. She’d told Milt the truth, but it seemed to her that there wasn’t much he could do about things. She could tell that if things didn’t turn around and turn around quick, the whole show was heading to the toilet.

She had promised Milt that she would stick around and help out while he was on jury duty, and she knew she would do it; she was that kind of person. But at the same time, she knew that she’d better be keeping her eye open for another job.

Maybe those Sandy’s Subs people were hiring. After all, she knew how to make a sub.

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