“Why then the problem? The problem wasn’t finding a ring; the problem was paying for it! You see, when the jeweler learned that the diamond was fo... his queen, he insisted on giving it to her. And this is in spite of the fact that the main diamond alone is worth tens of thousands of pounds sterling.”Then he grinned, looked down at Duke who was lying down in front of the front row of pews and said, “It’s too bad you weren’t there, Sir Duke. I’m sure you could have persuaded the jeweler to accept. “Be glad he showers at the rink now! They didn’t when they were little.”“Gross!” Kelly declared.“I used to have to put towels over the seats,” Mom One said. “Otherwise the car would smell like sweaty hockey players for days!”“Double gross!” Kelly exclaimed.“Just get in the car!” I said, rolling my eyes.We got into the back seat of Mom’s car and drove to our house. I put my gear on the rack to dry, then walked Kelly home.October 20, 2000, Chicago, Illinois“Burgers at the greasy spoon by the. ”The kitchen was large – very large – and basically contained every cooking convenience known to man, at least Jeff thought so, but the men had long since agreed that it was foolish for a man to enter when all the Alphas’ wives were engaged in meal preparation. Women, lots of women, were moving back and forth with hot items in gloved hands, or with stacks of dishes on trays, etc., seemingly unconcerned while using what Jeff thought of as their Alpha connection to keep from bumping into each. I was sweating as much from the heat as from what I had seen..........thought I'd seen I told myself. I walked into the mild surf up to my waist & dove in. The water felt wonderful. It washed away the sweat from my body but did little to wash away what I had seen.I remembered Jimmy Foxx, he was the local sheriff here on the Island. I met him in Miami once when I was a detective. A missing persons case. A Maimi man who had traveled to the Mainland & may have crossed over to the Island. I.