Semper Fi Pt. 05

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"¿A qué hora estará usted en casa, hoy?"

"A las cuatro por la tarde, Maria..."

Frank picked up Kelly's bucket and plastic shovel and taking her by the hand, headed to the parking lot. A short time later, they were walking across the sand toward the water and after finding a suitable spot according to his daughter, they sat down and began building a sand castle.

After an hour, the tide began to roll in and the waves turned the castle into melting sugar. "It's time to go, honey... and, it's getting cold. You want a hamburger?"

"Yes, Daddy. Thank you."

After brushing off the sand from their legs and feet, they got into his car and drove over to Burger King.

"A whopper with everything, a junior whopper and small fries... small coke."


On the ride home, he decided to stop at the toy store in La Jolla and bought Bananagrams, a children's scrabble game, so they could play later and an over-priced Hello, Kitty shoulder pouch. What a racket, he grumbled, but whenever he looked at his daughter's face, what could he do?

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Four days later, there was another "Lonely Hearts Murder" in Carlsbad and Frank and Barbara drove directly there from home.

"I'm telling you, it was the damnedest thing you ever saw. They were walking across the parking lot and then she went down, without a sound and then a second later, down he went."

Frank looked the two bodies still lying on the asphalt between the yellow tapes. "Who are we looking at?"

"He's a minister, Peter Smith, at the Good Shepherd Bible Church and she's Mary Steward."

"Married to..."

"A lance corporal over in Guam. Uh, let's see... John Steward, three years in out of a four year commitment, is scheduled to rotate back next month."

"All right. So, we eliminate him and that leaves us with..." Frank was frustrated.

"Nothing. It's going to be like all the rest. It'll never stop."

"I know."



Thank you for reading.
calibeachgirl