From Des Moines it was a drive to Detroit, Courm and Marie alternated driving. When they got in Marie tried to call Mark, only to leave a voicemail. T...at actually helped his alibi. She was safe and was free to leave at any time. Eventually I arranged for her to talk to Mark without blowing his alibi.Saturday early Mark took his wife to the airport, then he was seen at the yacht club setting sail on the boat with a friend. At sea he was out of cell range and, again, established an alibi. Soon. Gee found that he, too, was scanning as he climbed.When he finished for the day, Gee was surprised to find Judge Warren waiting for him to stow his tools.“You’re doing a mighty fine job of shaking those trees,” Warren said. “Coretta speaks highly of you.”“She’s a gem. And the kids all love her.”“She is at that. I’ve always considered her my aunt, though we aren’t closely related. We’d probably have to go back a few generations to find a common ancestor, but all the war orphans considered. “Take your panties off before you sit and give them to me.” “I would if I were wearing any.” “Show me.” I lifted my dress to reveal stocking tops and my trimmed black triangle of hair. She smiled. The waitress arrived with an ice bucket and champagne flutes but Alexandra did not let me drop my dress. The girl seemed not to notice. “Sit but keep your dress up so your arse is on the leather and spread your legs.” She sat facing me across the table. “You seem well trained.” If only she knew how. He was still belted into the chair. Sam had his head tilted back, a plastic trash bag covering his cast at the shoulders. She had a couple of old blankets on the floor. She had just finished shampooing his hair and was trying to clean it up using a washcloth. She wet the cloth, got up as much suds as she could, rinsed off and repeated. It was going to take forever.I had a coffee cup in my room from this morning. I took it in to Sam and picked up the bucket. I was able to hold the bucket under.