Joining Forces

         Through an aperture in the door, I peeked, listening in on a conversation between my father and Detective Inspector Oliver Dinges. Why he'd come all the way out to Texas to see my father - and not me - was a bit vexing. I felt I had every right to demur !
         "I'm glad you took me up on my offer, Detective Inspector Dinges. I was a little worried you'd laugh me off. Life in the big city's got to be more interesting than this insipid little town," I heard my father say. He was out of eye-shot from my little peephole.
         "Gold City doesn't seem so bad. I'm not wild about the north. I myself originally hail from New Iberia. I'm much more accustomed to the slower pace of life. Besides, it seems the engineers you have here managed to make this dry patch of desert a fecund little oasis."
         "True," Father stated. "Look, Dinges, let's not digress any further. I have great purpose for inviting you to my bailiwick."
         I could see Dinges nod his head in a slight bow.
         "Indeed, Dr. McGee."
         My father walked closer into my line of sight and set his hands on his hips. He tossed up the tails of his frock coat and thought a moment. Dinges turned his back on me to better observe my father. I watched the three barrel coach gun wag against the detective's right leg, then abruptly rest. That gun fascinated me. But, this conversation between my father and Dinges was ostensibly more fascinating as I stood with my bustles in the air, sneaking a look through a crack in the door way.
         "My younger daughter, Zheva, is still missing, as you are aware," said my father. "I wish I was able to see you and my daughter, Vivian, working the case that brought down that son-of-a-bitch, Mabry. That man knows how to discombobulate a situation - even a life - better than any man I know. The fact that he did not bemoan his own daughter, before or after her death, then tried to claim he'd seen my missing daughter... it sickens me."
         "The way I see it, he's responsible for his daughter's death, even if he had not killed her. She was an opium addict. In my opinion, his penultimate act of neglect was allowing people to think he cared for her, even after he had killed her. His final act was trying to justify it in the name of the greater good."
         Father glowered.
         "For me, the point is that the two of you helped to put him away. He's a monster and deserves to rot in jail."
         "What, exactly, does this have to do with bringing me here?"
         I waited fastidiously.
         "I want to hire you. I want you to lead the charge in finding Zheva, and I want my daughter, Vivian, to be your partner in this endeavor."
         Dinges stood still, hands clasped behind his back, unsure of how to respond. I held my breath.
         "Have you discussed this with Vivian?"
         "As of yet, no."
         Indeed!
         Dinges hesitated.
         "If Vivian is agreeable with the decision, I'd be more than happy to take the job."
         Before I had time to scamper out of the way, my father had stepped to the door and swung it open. I stood briskly and stared at my father, wide eyed. He'd known I was there all along.
         "Vivian, you've listened in this entire time, so there's no need to repeat myself. Do you have any interest in this endeavor?"
         At first, I thought that, perhaps if I stayed quiet and still, the whole thing would blow away. I soon realized how imprudent that idea was and stammered.
         "Well, I... if Mr. Dinges..."
         Father raised an eyebrow, as if to tell me I knew damn well that Mr. Dinges would accept.
         "Yes!" I answered, still skittish after having been caught.
         "Good. Y'all will get started tomorrow!" Father declared, then passed me and tramped down the hall with much authority. Dinges slowly meandered to the hallway with me and stuck his hands in the pockets of his vest.
         "This should be fun," he said with a smile. "But next time, if you're gonna spy on someone, don't be so conspicuous about it."
         With that, he walked away, and I was left to ponder my quandary. Damn my curiosity!