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"I have to be able to handle the workload. Everyone else has to."
"Okay," I said and nodded. "Whatever you need. We can set up one of the guest rooms as an office at the beach house so you can work there until we get our own place in Manhattan. Honestly, I'd love it if we could live out there instead of in town, but I know that would be inconvenient for you. You'd have to commute each day to get to Columbia."
"We could try," Alexa said. "It's an hour and a half drive. I could always drive in on Monday, stay until Friday at my old apartment with Candace, and drive back for the weekend."
I made a face at that. "I don't want us to be separated. Maybe, we could keep an apartment near Columbia where we both would stay four nights a week and then drive out every Friday for the weekend in Westhampton."
"I could do that, as long as the weather's good. I don't like the idea of commuting in the winter."
"We could stay in Manhattan when the weather was bad."
Alexa smiled and kissed me. "That sounds like a plan. Now, all we have to do is find an apartment near Columbia."
"I'm on it. What are your requirements, m'Lady? Gold toilets? Marble walls?"
"An office overlooking something. A nice kitchen. A fireplace would be a bonus."
"Consider it done," I replied and gave her a squeeze. "I'll scout out places and you can focus on getting your schedule all figured out, and all that grad student stuff you have to do. I'll make finding us an apartment my main job."
For the next week, while Alexa prepared for her new semester, I contacted a realtor my family knew and asked him to find us a nice apartment with three bedrooms near Columbia.
"A view of something is an absolute necessity for one of the spare rooms," I said, wanting Alexa to have the perfect office. I told him our other requirements and he began the search. He sent me a few possibilities and I arranged viewings so we could get it settled as soon as possible.
While he found us apartments, I spent some time speaking with the detective who handled the original break-in and attack about where the investigation stood. I called when we first arrived back in Manhattan and spoke with Detective Russell, who was in charge of the case. A middle-aged man with a shaved head and a goatee, he invited me to the precinct where I sat across from him in a meeting room and we talked about the case.
"Do you think it's Blaine?" I asked, sipping a cup of very good coffee he provided me.
"Might be," he said and rubbed his head. "Our best image of the man who attacked Ms. Carter isn't very good for our facial recognition system. There are some points of comparison, but he looks like he was wearing a beard and had dark glasses, long hair. Mr. Lawson was clean shaven and had short hair so if it was him, he was wearing a pretty good disguise and knew enough to avoid looking directly at any CCTV cameras. Whoever it was, the man had planned the attack, which makes me think it was either one of Ms. Carter's ex boyfriends, or Mr. Lawson."
"What about her ex-boyfriend? I heard they parted on bad terms," I asked, remembering what Candace had told Alexa.
"He was out of town that day," Detective Russell said with a shrug.
"And Blaine's missing in action," I said.
"That he is. He has to report in to his parole officer in ten days or he'll have broken the terms of his parole. If so, we can pick him up when we find him, put him in jail."
"And if he reports in on time?"
"We'll check on his alibi, and if he has one," he said and made a face. "There's not much we can do. He has to inform his parole officer of any moves, and report in on time. Unless he's caught in the act of violating the order of protection, we have no reason to arrest him."
I finished my cup of coffee and stood up. "Thanks for meeting with me," I said. "I realize it's not part of your job to calm the fears of nervous boyfriends. It's just that if it is Blaine, he isn't really intere
sted in Candace except to hurt Alexa. She's his real target."
"I understand, and it is my job, so no sweat."
We shook and I left the police station, glad I'd gone down to speak with him.
I went back home and while Alexa was on campus getting her work done to register for the new semester, I sat down and tried to figure out what I was going to do for the coming months. Without Chatter to keep me busy, and now that I had nothing to do to keep The Phoenix running, I was at a loss. I was used to having my day decided the night before and for the past year, that had been making sure the catamaran was in good functioning order and our plans for the next day were in place.
Now, my day was wide open.
The only work I had was finding us a place to live and trying to get involved in the space industry. Given I was going to be an investor, I knew I'd have no problem doing that. Everyone needed money. The issue would be which company to back.
While I stood at the window in the hotel room, looking out over the city displayed below, I contemplated where I wanted to be in five years.
Hopefully, I would be commuting between California, Washington State, and Florida for the space business. California and Washington State was where the technological side of the business were located. Florida was where the actual rockets would launch. Alexa and I would most likely live in Manhattan, depending on if she decided to work for the UN. I couldn't see us living in Westhampton full-time until Alexa wanted to have children, but that was likely five or more years off.
