The Zoo Crew (Zoo Crew series Book 1) Page 5

  This particular morning, the caddis flies were being quite good to the Zoo Crew. Spaced out along McCully Flats two miles south of the Clark Fork, they had been in place since before dawn.

  For the first actual day back, it had been an very productive morning.

  Standing up to his knees in the river, Drake counted off an overhand cast and dropped his line out into the current in front of him. The moving water caught his fly and pushed it downstream, settling it atop an eddy.

  Just visible atop the water, Drake focused in and waited. There was a brown trout lying along the bottom and he knew it. It was only a matter of getting its attention.

  The caddis fly didn't disappoint.

  With a thunderous smack, the brownie rose up from the riverbed and snatched it off the top of the water. The second Drake saw the swirl he jerked back on his rod to set the hook.

  For a moment he felt the familiar tug of the fish as it fought to free itself from the metal intrusion.

  Then, just like that, it was gone.

  Nothing remained but the loose feeling of an empty line as Drake reeled it back in.

  "Whoa!" Ajax taunted from a hundred yards downriver. "There's something you don't see every day!"

  Standing out at point, everybody in the group had seen the miss. Behind him, he could hear Kade and Sage laughing as well.

  Drake raised his hand in a wave to acknowledge them. Didn't turn around. Didn't want them to see the embarrassed smile on his face.

  Ajax was right, it was something that didn't happen every day.

  Drake reeled his line all the way in and hooked his fly into the third eyelet of his rod. Pulled the string tight and waded back up on to the bank.

  It had been a good morning on the water.

  Hell, all mornings were good mornings on the water.

  Still, he was distracted. His mind wasn't in it.

  "Oh, so you miss one and you're done for the day?" Sage called. "Just going to take your ball and go home?"

  Drake smiled, waved again. Said nothing.

  He leaned his rod against a downed log on the gravel bank and unsnapped the shoulder straps on his waders. Dropped the rubber leggings to the ground and walked out of them, revealing a pair of gym shorts and t-shirt underneath.

  Stepping into a pair of running shoes he'd left on the bank, he spread his waders out to dry. Lowered himself to the ground and leaned back against the log.

  In front of him, Kade finished the roll cast he was working and hooked his line to the pole. He splashed his way up onto the bank and started to remove his waders as well.

  "Where you at today, huh?"

  Drake didn't take his eyes from the water moving before him. From the sunlight dancing on the water and the polished stones beneath. "Right here."

  "Uh-uh," Kade said. "I've never seen you miss a fish like that. Damn sure never seen you stop after a mistake."

  Drake exhaled slowly. Shook his head. "Distracted this morning."

  Kade tossed his waders out beside Drake's. "Distracted? On the first morning back?"

  "Yeah," Drake said. "There's this girl."

  Kade settled on the log. "That’s my boy. Bout damn time."

  "That's not what I meant."

  "Hey, no judgment here," Kade said. He even waved a hand for emphasis. "I've been after you for years to sample the local fare."

  "No offense sir, but there isn't much fare left after you get done."

  "Touché," Kade conceded.

  The sound of crunching gravel pulled both their heads to the right. Sage was walking towards them, pole in one hand, fly box in the other.

  "You boys done?" she asked.

  Kade ignored the question. "Drake met a girl!"

  "Oh?" Sage asked. Made a face. "And that's relevant to quitting early how?"

  "You see him miss that fish? She's in his head already," Kade said.

  Drake turned back to the water. Shook his head again. "That's not what I said. It's not like that."

  Sage unhooked her waders. "So what's it like?"

  "She came to see me yesterday," Drake said. He looked at Kade. Pushed on before his friend could interject again. "Not me the person, me the law student."

  "Damn," Kade said.

  "You don't know the half of it," Drake said.

  "So tell us," Sage prompted. She laid her waders out beside the others. Took up a spot on the log opposite Kade.

  Drake exhaled. Debated the question. "I trust this goes no further than the Crew?"

  Neither said anything. They didn't have to.

  "Senior year there was a girl in one of my classes. Nice girl. Very quiet. I barely even knew her, but when I got my concussion and missed a few weeks she went out of her way to help me. After that, we remained friends but sort of drifted apart.

  "Haven’t seen her in over a year. To be honest, haven’t even thought about her in over six months.”

  In quick fashion, he relayed the story to them about the encounter with Ella the day before. As he did so, Ajax joined them. Sprawled out flat on the gravel and listened.

  When he was done, nobody said anything for several minutes. They all chewed the info in their own way.

  "So that's why you were so quiet last night," Ajax said. Statement, not a question.

  "Was I?" Drake asked.

  "You took Q for three walks. She's a damned bulldog. A trip to the mailbox could last her a week."

  Drake smirked. He hadn't thought about it, but Ajax was right. This had been gnawing on him for the better part of a day now.

  "What do you think is wrong?" Sage asked.

  "I have no idea," Drake said. "I keep wracking my brain on it too. What could be bad enough to send a cousin to set up some kind of cloak-and-dagger meeting? But not bad enough to just call the police?"

  "You guys ever hook up?" Kade asked. "Maybe you're a daddy and didn't know it? She's got the herps and thinks you should get tested?"

  Drake turned his head. Glared through the one eye facing Kade. Said nothing.

  "Alright," Kade said, holding his hands up. "Just asking."

  "Not all of us wake up every day in fear that our next case of rug burn could be our last," Ajax said.

  He didn't aim it at Kade, but he didn't have to. The implication was clear.

  In the first days of the Crew, Sage would scold the guys for such suggestive talk. Now, she let it pass without comment.

  "So what are you going to do?" Kade asked, steering the conversation into safer waters.

  "He's going to go," Sage said.

  "He is?" Ajax asked.

  "I am?" Drake responded.

  Sage leaned forward, rested her elbows on her knees. "Of course you are. You wouldn't be you otherwise."

  "A guy with a hero complex?" Drake asked.

  "I didn't say that. But you're a good guy. If someone is in trouble and you can help, you'll try to."

  "Hmm," Drake said.

  "I mean, that is why you went to law school, right?" she added.

  Drake turned his gaze back to the water. Watched the sun appear over the aspen trees to his right. Drew in the cool Montana morning air.

  Said nothing.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sage was right.

  The minute Drake got home, he signed onto GoGriz.com and responded.

  Yes, but I have a pair of tickets I need to get rid of. $50 each. Meet to discuss?

  From there he showered, ate, walked Suzy Q around the yard. By the time he headed towards the law school, the sun was high above. The sleepy mountain town was awake and functional.

  Not Monday through Thursday functional, but close.

  Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts, v-neck and sandals, he avoided the bulk of the school and took the back stairwell down to the clinic office. He could hear a great deal of commotion out in the halls and had no interest in being a part of it.

  Regardless what Greg's scouting report said, he would stay far away from first years for as long as he could.

  The clini
c office was empty as he stepped inside and settled into the same desk he used the day before. Across the room he could see Greg and Wyatt had already put some things onto their respective spaces as well.

  Neither was around. After yesterday, they weren’t going anywhere near Ava for a while.

  For her part, the fourth desk was bare.

  Drake set up his laptop and fished through his shoulder bag. Pulled out a legal pad and a stack of reading for Local Government on Monday. He still hadn't convinced himself that he was back to the grind yet, but he would go through the motions for at least a little while anyway.

  Internally, he set the over/under at an hour.

  He didn't even make it that far.

  After his third consecutive article discussing the city government decision making hierarchy, he pushed the reading aside. Brought his laptop to life. Made the usual passes through his gmail and yahoo accounts. Took a quick pass through facebook.

  Went to the site he'd been avoiding since he got there. GoGriz.com.

  Why he was avoiding it, he didn't know. Maybe it was because he didn't want to stare at a message posting that had no chance of being answered yet. Maybe it was because he wasn't sure if he wanted it to be answered at all.

  Either way, he didn't have to wonder long. There were two messages waiting for him.

  That's great. When can you meet?

  The tickets are a gift. Can we meet this morning? I was hoping to surprise a friend with them.

  Drake leaned back in his chair. Made a face. He had not expected to hear a word from her at ten-thirty on a Friday morning. Definitely not two pleas to meet ASAP.

  Sure. I'm on campus now. The tickets are with me. When/Where?

  This time he left the browser to the discussion forum open. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling a response was imminent.

  He was right.

  Food Zoo. 11.

  Drake exhaled once more. That was less than twenty minutes away. Beth was close, and she was in a hurry.

  Which may mean desperate.

  I'll meet you by the front entrance. Thanks!

  Drake closed the browser and pushed it away from himself. Reached out and shut his laptop. An uneasy feeling sat in his stomach.

  This morning he had been certain he was doing the right thing. The only thing. Now, he wasn't quite so sure.

  He glanced up at the clock on the wall and tried for a moment to return to reading. Made it less than a paragraph before shuffling the papers into a pile and stuffing them back in his bag.

  The reading would have to wait.

  "I didn't think anybody would be here this morning," a voice said behind him. The sound was unexpected, shattering the silence of the room.

  Drake jerked towards it with a start. His heart rate picked up a bit.

  In front of him stood Ava.

  She was dressed down from her courtroom ensemble of a day before. Still way overdressed for most any event in the state of Montana, let alone law school.

  Black skirt, pumps, white blouse. Same pearls.

  "On my way out in just a minute," Drake said.

  Ava carried a load of books and supplies in her arms. Walked past him and dropped them with a thud on her desk. "I take it this is my spot?"

  "I do believe so." Drake rose, half bent at the waist, and extended a hand to her. "Drake Bell."

  Ava stared at the hand, then him. Accepted the shake. "Ava Zargoza."

  Drake smirked. "Uh, yeah. I caught that yesterday."

  Ava pursed her lips a bit. "Yeah, sorry about that. This whole situation just..."

  Drake decided to switch topics. "When did you get here?"

  "Three days ago," Ava said.

  Neither of their tones were hostile, but they weren't friendly either. More like a deadpan conversation between business associates.

  "Yeah, Missoula takes some getting used to," Drake said. He considered adding more, thought better of it.

  "I hope I'm not here long enough to find out," Ava said.

  Drake made a face. "If you don't mind my asking, why'd you pick UM?"

  Ava sighed and stared at the wall in front of her. "I didn't. After the hurricane hit, a bunch of schools contacted LSU about accepting last second transfers until the place reopened.

  "Of course, being LSU, the dumbasses didn't let us choose by class rank. Instead they used alphabetical order."

  Drake nodded. "And you being Zargoza?"

  "Yep. The other guy chose this hellhole. I got stuck here."

  Drake debated continuing the conversation. Decided against it. There hadn't been any overt hostility between them. That was good enough for their first actual encounter.

  He left without another word.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Even for the third day of class, the Food Zoo was a madhouse.

  Built in the late eighties as a part of campus expansion, it housed a burrito bar, a pizza counter, an off-brand sandwich joint. Down the hall was a coffee shop. Around the corner was a dining hall.

  Unless someone wanted to go off-campus or pack lunch every day, the Food Zoo was pretty much the only game in town.

  Drake cut a diagonal through the grassy quad in the middle of campus, past the undergrads playing Frisbee. Past the hippies trying to balance themselves on a rope strung between two trees.

  He arrived at the front entrance two minutes before eleven to find Beth already there and waiting on him. If she hadn't spotted him and waved as he approached, he might have walked right on by her.

  Her white blonde hair, ruddy cheeks and watery blue eyes were the same as always. As he approached though, he didn't notice any of that.

  All he saw was a girl in her third trimester of pregnancy.

  "Oh, it's so good to see you," she said as he approached. Rocked up onto her toes and wrapped one arm around his neck.

  "Uh, you too," Drake said, patting her back with one hand. Her prodigious bulge bumped against his hip, making the entire situation very awkward.

  "Just go with it," Beth whispered into his ear. "They might be watching."

  "Who?" Blake whispered back, but Beth had already released the hug.

  "Shall we?" she asked, waving a hand inside.

  "Uh, sure?" Drake said. He was doing his best to play along, despite his confusion.

  Together they slid into the current of people going inside and let it carry them to the eateries along the back wall.

  Drake went with a basic turkey sandwich. Beth chose a loaded breakfast burrito, blamed it on the pregnancy.

  Drake paid for both.

  Through the roiling tangle of undergrads around them, they found a table in the back and settled in. The entire time, Beth smiled and looked pleasant. Drake tried to keep from asking one of the hundred questions running through his mind.

  "So, uh, congratulations," Drake said. He motioned to her baby bump with one hand. Spread mustard on his sandwich with the other.

  Beth ignored the question, pretended to bend over and inspect her burrito. "Thank you so much for meeting me," she hissed.

  "Why are we whispering?" Drake asked.

  "Because they might be listening," Beth said. Just as natural as can be, she cut her burrito in half and lifted one side to her mouth.

  "Who?"

  "I'm so sorry for contacting you. I didn't know who else to call," Beth said. Took a bite. Chewed, tried to keep her glassy eyes from giving way to full blown tears.

  Drake left the sandwich open in front of him. "Beth, what is going on? You're cousin grabs me coming out of court yesterday, sends me to a website? I come here and find you pregnant and talking about being followed?"

  "I know," Beth whispered. "It's all so awful. I can't believe I'm in this mess. I don't even know if there's anything you can do..."

  "Stop apologizing," Drake snapped. He waited for Beth's eyes to meet his. "Make it make sense."

  Beth nodded, motioned towards his sandwich. "Okay, but you have to eat. We have to make this look natural."

&nbs
p; Eyes narrowed, Drake did as she said. It was tasteless as he focused on her. Waited for an explanation.

  "I know it’s been a while since we spoke, so I’ll just pretend you know nothing about me and start at the beginning," Beth said. Another bite of burrito. Scrambled eggs falling to the tray in front of her.

  "I am Missoula born, raised by my mother. Father passed when I was an infant, mom never remarried."

  "Okay."

  "About a year and a half ago, she got sick. Like, really sick," Beth continued. "Pancreatic cancer. Spent eight months in and out of Missoula County Hospital. The last couple months were a lot more in than out."

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Drake said. Still forcing himself to eat. Realizing how little they had interacted the last couple of years. "You never mentioned anything. Is she okay?"

  Beth shook her head. "No. She didn't make it."

  "I'm very sorry," Drake repeated.

  "Before she got sick, I was working for the Missoula County Credit Union. Nothing fancy, but it paid the bills. When she got sick, I had to take a leave of absence. Between that and the hospital stays..."

  "The family ledger went from black to red in a hurry," Drake prompted.

  "Blood red," Beth said. "At that point, it was just mom and I. No rich relatives, no real assets of any kind. The hospital wrote off most of the expense for charity, but I was still left with about fifteen thousand in expenses."

  Drake took another bite. He had no idea where this was going. Wanted to press her on it, but decided to let it ride.

  "After the funeral, I was a wreck. Big stack of bills. No money coming in. Then, a visitor showed up one day."

  The sandwich stopped halfway to Drake's mouth. "A visitor?"

  "Keep eating," Beth said. Her eyes darted about as she did the same. "One night I was sitting on the couch and a woman showed up. Nice lady. Well dressed, clean-cut. Said she worked at MCH and had heard about my situation. Wanted to make me an offer."

  "For?"

  Beth motioned to her stomach. "This. Claimed she knew of a family that was looking to have a baby and needed a surrogate. Said if I met with them and agreed to do it, my fee would be enough to cover the remaining bills and get my feet back under me."

  "So you did it," Drake said.