Ceepak can’t take Christine to his apartment, either. His adopted son, T.J., may be off at the Naval Academy in Annapolis (freeing up the fold-out sofa) but he and his wife (plus Barkley the dog) share a very cramped one-bedroom apartment over the Bagel Lagoon bake shop. Ceepak’s mother moved to Sea Haven last winter, but she’s in an “adults only” condo complex. And by adults, they mean people over the age of fifty-five without kids or grandkids.
“Should we take her to the house?” I suggest. “Let her bunk in one of the jail cells?”
“Probably not our best option,” says Ceepak.
Finally, it hits me. “How ’bout Becca?”
Our mutual friend Becca Adkinson’s family runs the Mussel Beach Motel. It’s the first week of June. The summer season won’t really start for another couple of weeks. They probably have a few vacant rooms.
“Excellent suggestion, Danny.”
Yeah. I just hope Becca and her dad agree.
Oh, by the way, Becca’s father, Mr. Adkinson? He’s the guy who ran for mayor against Hubert H. Sinclair.
The guy who lost.
Becca says yes.
“I’ll escort you over there,” I tell Christine.
Hey, I’m wide-awake now. Besides, it’s already Saturday. My day off.
Before Ceepak leaves, he tells me to “keep my calendar open” next week.
“I’ve asked Chief Rossi to assign you to a one-week stint with me starting Monday.”
Finally. Good news. “What’s up?”
“Annual SHPD pre-season ride inspections. As you know, there are many brand-new amusements on the boardwalk this summer.”
True. After Sandy hit, almost all the rides on the boardwalk had to be replaced. You might remember our Mad Mouse roller coaster. Well, Sandy turned it into a water park ride. A photograph of its twisted steel carcass sitting out in the Atlantic Ocean was on the front page of newspapers everywhere in the days after the storm.
“Some of these new rides,” Ceepak continues, “may, in my estimation, have criminal records.”
“Huh?”
“Sinclair Enterprises has installed a ‘Free Fall’ on its pier. It is ‘used equipment,’ Danny, purchased from Fred’s Fun Zone, a ragtag amusement park near Troy, Michigan where, according to my research, the Free Fall was responsible for one death and several injuries.”
Ceepak. The guy does criminal background checks on amusement park rides.
“Plain clothes?” I say.