Chapter 7

A little before sunrise, Mikki awoke with a start. Something was wrong! She didn't know what, but something was wrong.

She sat up on the edge of the bed and switched on the night lamp. Across the room, the twins were sound asleep in their cribs. It was a little after five. Hurriedly, she slipped on her slippers and robe and went out into the hall.

She paused a moment with her ear to the door of her parents' room. Silence. At Jacqui's. Silence - she was still staying with Polly Tanaka. She went to the head of the stairs. There was a thin silver of light coming from under the door to the den.

Cautious now, fearing it might be a prowler or something, Mikki crept down the stairs, taking them two at a time. There was no noise coming from the den. She paused at the midway point and listened again. There was the faint shuffling sound of slippered feet, then the creaking of a cabinet being opened, more slippered footsteps, silence.

For a moment, Mikki stood outside the door to the den. She held her breath and listened closely. She could hear the faint splash of liquid into glass, the sound of a bottle being set back down on the countertop. She opened the door a crack and peered inside. It was daddy! She breathed an inward sigh of relief and opened the door a little wider. "Daddy?" she whispered.

He had not heard her. He sat with his back to her, sipping straight bourbon from a water glass. There were two bottles on the bar, one empty, one freshly opened. "Daddy?"

She moved a little closer. It sounded almost ... almost as if he were crying! He was wearing his frayed terry cloth bathrobe. God, how long had he had that raggedy old thing? His right hand partially covered something black on the cabinet next to him. He picked it up, aimed it at his temple, it was a gun.

"DADDY!"

It had all been more than Ted Potter could take. Losing his life's savings was bad enough, but the alternative - letting Trimble get his hands on Mikki, his own dear sweet baby - was more than a man could bear.

The gun fell to the cabinet top. Mikki had startled him out of it. His big body shook with his weeping. His heavy face was buried in his hands.

"Oh, daddy, why?"

She crossed the room quickly, taking a seat next to him at the bar, gently easing the pistol out of his reach with her elbow as she reached in front of him to pour him another glass of liquor. Her hand shook with terror, and she spilled the whiskey over the sides of the water glass as she poured. "What's wrong, daddy? This is Mikki, daddy, you can talk to me!"

Ted started to speak, but his words were too slurred to be coherent.

"What, daddy? I can't hear you."

Ted lowered his hands and turned to face her. She couldn't remember ever having seen him in such a sorry state before. His eyes were all bloodshot, and his voice cracked when he tried to speak.

"I-I lost some money," he finally managed. "A lot of money!"

"H-How much, daddy? To who?"

He cleared his throat. "J-Jason Trim - " He cleared his throat again, and took a long sip of the liquor in his glass. "Jason Trimble."

"Jason Trimble? Oh, daddy, how did you do that?"

"Cards," he said. "I lost it playing cards."

"But why?"

"I-I know this sounds foolish," he began, "but I did it for your mother. The way we've been fighting lately, the way we never had a honeymoon - much less, a decent church wedding."

"Oh, daddy, she doesn't care about that anymore. All she wants is a kind word once in awhile, or a peck on the cheek like you used to give her back in the old days."

Ted blinked at his daughter, and swallowed tightly. He was already feeling a little better, talking with Mikki always did make him feel better. She was the only one in the whole world who could understand him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's too late to do anything about it now, though."

"Oh, no it isn't Da -"

He raised his hand for her to be silent. "I-I bought some property up on Camano Island," he said.

"Camano Island?"

"Sure. Mikki, do you remember a few years back when your mother wanted to buy some recreation property at Ocean Shores?"

Mikki nodded.

"Boy," Ted continued, a faint smile flickering across his lips at the memory. "She sure did want to buy in down there. The Browns and the Denglemeyers, the Carlsons ... everybody and his dog was buying in down there." He traced the rim of his glass with one thick finger. Mikki placed her hand on his wrist, as much to steady herself as her father. "But we ... we couldn't afford it."

Ted took a long pull from his glass and stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Tears of bitterness formed in his eyes. "Your Mama never complained though, not when I explained to her the way things were." He turned his face to his daughter once again. Her face was tense with worry and concern. "Anyway, to make a long story short; I got a hold of a piece of property up in the San Juans last year - Camano Island - and I figured on having it paid for in time for our Silver Anniversary next month." Mikki squeezed his arm reassuringly. "But ... but the way things look, I'm going to have to get my equity out of it so I can replace the money I took out of savings, before your mother finds out it's gone."

"Does she know? About the property, I mean?"

"No. It's just as well though. I was saving it for a surprise, only I didn't want her worrying about the payments, so I wanted to get it paid off first. That's why I got in that game. It's a crying shame, too. Real nice piece of property. Had its own private beach, and-"

"But Jason Trimble is a crook, daddy!"

"Yeah, I know!" He took a sip from his glass and grimaced. "I used to be a pretty fair hand at poker when I was in the Navy, and I thought ... Hell, I don't know what I thought."

"Did he cheat you?"

"Oldest shuffle in the deck, Mikki."

"Huh?"

"Well, to begin with, the other three guys in the game, including Trimble, were all in cahoots. Cheat or no cheat, I'd have to crumble sooner or later against three-to-one odds."

"Can't you go to the police, daddy?"

"Can you think of a quicker way to let your mother know I lost all our savings?"

"Oh."

Mikki swallowed tightly and stole a glance at the pistol lying at her elbow. "W-Were you really going to shoot yourself, daddy?"

"I ... I don't know Mikki. I think so."

"How much money did you lose, anyway?"

"Twenty-five hundred."

"Wow t"

"That's not the half of it. Now, he wants another grand in interest, because I was a few days late getting him his money."

"Oh, daddy! Have you got it?"

"Nope."

"What will he do?"

Potter drained his glass. "Well, it was his people who tried to run Bill down the other morning."

"Go to the police, daddy! Promise me you'll go to the police!" her hand tightened around his upper arm. "Mama would rather have you alive than the savings, any day."

"Aw, Mikki, you can't touch a guy like that. He's got more insulation around him that a hot wire."

"What will you do?"

"I don't know. I know what I'm not going to do, though!"

"What's that?"

Ted refilled his glass. His whole body felt numb, and very, very tired. "He offered me a deal. He said if I played ball with him, he'd forget the other thousand."

"I don't follow you, daddy. What kind of deal?"

"He wants you, Mikki." he whispered.

Me? What fo - " her words stuck in her throat at the sudden impact of her father's words. "Oh, daddy! That ... That's terrible!"

"You're telling me, kitten?" he took another sip and belched. "Yea, Ol' Trimble's a real sweetheart, ain't he?"

Mikki's mind went back a couple of days to the two men who had come to see her father. Instantly, she knew that the shorter, better-dressed of the two was Jason Trimble. She supposed he might be considered good looking by some women, in a creepy, silken sort of way. And, after all, it was her father's life they were talking about!

"I-Is there any other way, daddy?"

Ted shook his head. "Not that I can think of, Mikki."

"I-I'll do it!"

"Oh, Mikki, NO!"

"It's just for once, isn't it? And, he'll forget the whole thing?"

"Oh, Mikki, if you think I'd let you-"

"Do you call him, or do I do it myself?"

"I-I - " Ted buried his face in his palms once again, and began to weep softly. "Oh, Mikki. My baby. My baby!"

Mikki stood, picking up the pistol and emptying out the chamber as he had taught her to do so many times when they used to go target shooting. "You go to bed now, daddy. If your own daughter can't help you, then nobody can!"

Her sudden act of bravado fooled no one, least of all herself. The mere idea of having anything to do with someone the likes of Jason Trimble made her feel nauseous, but ...

"Mikki, listen - "

"I want you to promise me you'll never gamble again, daddy!"

Ted, his voice gone now, nodded grimly in the affirmative.

"And you won't try anything 'foolish' tonight?"

"No," he whispered meekly.

Mikki placed the emptied revolver in her robe pocket and started for the door. "Everything will work out fine, daddy," she said. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ted listened breathlessly for the sound of the door closing behind her, then straightened and put the cap back on the bottle of liquor. A flood of relief coursed through his body. For a moment, he wasn't sure it was going to work.