Chapter 36
He spentthe night on a cot made of hard plastic. It was two inches too short. No pillow, a really small blanket. The blanket was fine though because the air was insanely hot. A sweaty, stinky, gross, crowded jail. Beckett hoped the judicial department had fans or else the judges would be total pissed off, sitting on their sweat-covered asses.
The following day, at three o’clock, he was forced to change into a beige, thick, scratchy, questionably clean jumpsuit, then led into a room where Dan was sitting at a table. Beckett dropped into the chair opposite. “Man, I wish you didn’t have to see me like this, all criminal like this . . .”
Dan looked at him piercingly. “How ya holding up, Army?”
“Not well. Clearly I’m in some deep shit.”
Dan bit his lips, “Yeah, I don’t know anyone who deserted that didn’t go away for a long, long time.”
“I was close to done too. Half a year — because I was such a model soldier.”
“That sucks. You could have told us.”
“Nothing you could have done. The moment I walked onto that ship I became a deserter.”
Dan grinned, “One more reason why you should have gone Navy. I’ve never been on a boat where I wasn’t exactly where I was supposed to be.” His expression turned back to serious. “The reason I wasn’t here earlier is I’ve been searching for Luna.”
Beckett leaned forward anxiously. “You have? Did you find her?”
“No, not yet.”
Beckett ran his hands down his face.
Dan said, “But I will, I’m told it will take between 12-72 hours to get her booked in the system. And then — so I’ll keep checking, every few hours, me or Sarah, we’ll make them look for her again. Until — but I have to tell you, everyone I’ve talked to so far has a piss-poor attitude. These are some generally shitty people. You need to get yourself out and get her out, pronto. Luna isn’t going to last long there.”
Beckett nodded. “True that, but they haven’t even offered me a call yet. Will you call my aunt, tell her I need a lawyer?”
Dan wrote down the number and tucked it into his wallet, then stood up. “All right, I’ll see you tomorrow Beckett.”
“You don’t have to, I’m sure you’ve got things to do. . .”
“I’m Navy, stuck on shore leave, which is almost as ridiculous as Army deserting to the sea. I’m useless. Your hopeless cause is giving me something to do besides washing aquariums for Sarah. I hate washing aquariums. The only good part about washing aquariums is the water hose.”
Beckett nodded. “Thanks man.”
“Besides you’re like the little brother I never had.”
Beckett chuckled.
Dan said, “But then again, I do like Luna a lot more. She’s like the little sister I never had, which would make you more like my brother-in-law. Yeah, that seems kind of fitting, that way I can roll my eyes whenever I talk about the army guy that’s in jail and in love with my little sis.” Dan grinned and left.
And Beckett was shoved back to his cell.
