As soon as the waitress left. Nancy pushed out of the seat, almost topped over, fell against the table and gained her balance. She looked at the front door, then headed for the side door. The manager ran in front of her.
“Lady, I can’t let you go driving in your condition. Now just relax. I called a cab and I’m paying for it. Give me your keys and you can come get your car tomorrow afternoon. We open at two.”
Nancy stopped, reached into her purse but what came out was her fist that she used to take a swing at the manager. He jumped back then stepped ahead inside and caught both her arms.
“Get your hands off me you slob,” Nancy snarled.
“Lady, I’d love to, but I could lose my license, understand? Nothing personal, it’s just business.”
She looked away, and when he looked in that direction she brought up her knee and rammed it into his crotch as hard as she could.
The manager bellowed in pain and swayed backward, dropping his hands from her arms and slumping to his knees. He held his crotch and keened in pain, then fell over on the floor, his hands protecting his genitals from any more damage.
Nancy looked at him a minute, snorted, and went out the side door to her car. She saw a taxi flash into the parking lot and turn toward the front door.
She hurried then, almost fell, bounced off a fender but kept her feet. She found her car, slid in, and locked the doors, then started the Chevy. She backed out of the slot slowly, with elaborate care, and cautiously turned toward the street.
Nancy prided herself that she had never had to ask someone to drive her home or get a cab after a few drinks. Always made it home. Always.
She shook her head and stared at the street. Which way? Oh, yeah, to the left. She hit the gas and spurted into the street and barely missed a car coming at her in the right-hand lane. She blew her horn at the guy and laughed, then blinked to get a better view of the street. So damn dark out there. Lights were on, yeah, mine? Yeah. She thought the street was narrow and before she could correct, she sideswiped a car parked at the curb.
She scowled and drove on, just a little crinkle fender, no big deal. Had to get home. She heard some horns honking at her but ignored them. Somebody behind her? She speeded up. Fifty miles an hour on a Coronado street? Oh, hell yes. Get home faster that way.
The light had just turned red, and she was thirty feet from it. No way she could stop. Hell, nobody coming this time of night. She hit the accelerator to slip through fast before a cop saw her and then she caught just a flash of yellow to her right.
Nancy wasn’t sure what happened next. She felt the impact as her front bumper slammed into the driver’s door of a yellow convertible. She jolted forward. Her head hit the steering wheel, and then the wheel smashed into her breasts. After that everything whirled and spun and she saw the convertible tip over and her Chevy ride up onto the wheels and undercarriage of the other car. A moment later she passed out.
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock and Father O’Connor went to see Senior Chief Boatswain’s Mate Willard Dobler in the hospital section of the huge carrier.
Dobler looked up, saw Murdock and grinned, then frowned when he saw the crosses on the other officer’s collar.
“I know I’ve missed mass for a few years, Father, but you didn’t have to come all the way out here—” He stopped. Neither of them was going to laugh. His grin turned to a frown tinged with the redness of fear. “What is it? My family?”
The priest looked at Murdock who had asked to lead the team.
“Yes, Will. Nancy was in a car crash. She got banged up a little bit but only spent one night in the hospital.”
“Thank God. Were the kids with her?”
“No, she was alone. Your Chevy is pretty well totaled.”
“So, we can replace the car. Is Nancy really okay? She must not be, why else would you both be here? What’s the problem?”
“She ran a red light, Will. Broadsided a couple of kids in a convertible. One of them died. She was drunk, Will. The manager of the bar she left said he tried to stop her. She fought with him, kneed him in the groin, and rushed out of the bar. Five minutes later the kid was dead.”
Will ducked his head and covered his face with his hands. “She went off again. Did she know about my getting wounded? That must have set her off. Damn, she must be in jail.”
“She is, Will. It only happened two days ago. Yesterday they had the arraignment. She’s being charged with second-degree murder.
Will had been sitting up. Now his face sagged, his eyes watered and then closed and he lay back on the bed.
“Will,” Murdock said.
“Get the hell out of here, both of you. Go. Just go. God damn it I thought she could hold it together a few more months. God damn it to hell. It’s my fault. I should have known it was coming. Happened often enough before. God damn it to hell, what the fuck am I going to do now?”
Murdock waved the priest out of the small room and sat in the chair beside the bed.
“Listen up, Chief, and I’ll tell you exactly what you’re going to do. I’ve arranged for you to fly out this afternoon on the COD to T’aipei. From there you catch an ambulance aircraft with a couple of stops and then you hit San Diego and Balboa in fifteen to twenty hours, something like that.
“When you get to San Diego, a lawyer I know who is a top man in criminal law in town and owes me a bunch of favors will take your case pro bono. Not a red cent. He usually gets twenty-five thousand down and three hundred an hour. He will tell you what he’s going to do. First he’ll get the bail knocked down from a million dollars to something like fifty thousand, since you’re Navy and Nancy is not a flight risk. Then he’ll get Nancy home and get you out of Balboa and she’ll settle down. Is every little thing clear?”
Will looked up. “Yes, sir, Commander, yes sir. Sorry I lost it there.”
“Next, the priest is coming back in here so you can apologize to him for your bad language and atrocious manners. Then we’ll see about getting you in motion.”
Four days later, Senior Chief Dobler came out of the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego in a wheelchair and hobbled on crutches into Maria Fernandez’s Chevrolet.
“Good to see you, Will. Hear you’re healing like a whirlwind. That lawyer of yours is a dandy. I was in court yesterday. He pulled out all the strings and got the bail battered down to thirty thousand. We’ll drive by a bail bondsman. You said you could write him a check for three thousand, which is the ten percent. Then Nancy should be out and waiting for us to pick her up by noon tomorrow.”
Dobler eased into the cushion and tried to keep tears out of his eyes. “Everyone’s been so damn good to us. I certainly do appreciate it, and I know Nancy does.”
Maria looked over and smiled. “Hey, Chief, you’re family. We’re not gonna let our family down. Your kids have been at my place but they insisted they would be fine at home now that you’re going to be there. Helen says she’s fifteen now and can be chief cook until her mom gets home and Charlie will be bottle washer.”
Two hours later, the bail was posted and the process started at the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Center in nearby Lakeside. Maria drove over the Coronado Bay bridge from San Diego and up to the Dobler house. Both kids waited on the front lawn for him and rushed out and grabbed him. He used the crutches to get to the house, then spread out in his favorite recliner chair and the two kids hugged him again.
Maria went back to the car and drove home. Dobler had assured her that Miguel was fine, hadn’t been injured or wounded and was a good man to have on your side.