There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

The sky glowed faintly for a second as Levon drove up in front of the small office building.  He mentally counted the
seconds, waiting for the thunder.  It was several seconds before the sky rumbled.

"Is it ever going to rain?" Joe asked as he got out of the truck.  Levon came around from the other side and they both
walked up to the building.

"Hope so," Levon answered.

The security guard sitting at the desk in the dimly lit lobby looked up when Levon knocked at the glass door.  Both Joe
and Levon held up their badges and the guard left his desk and slowly walked over to the doors.  He unlocked the
doors and opened one slightly.

"Evening, officers," he said.  "What can I do for you."

"We need to talk to someone inside," Joe said.

"All the offices are closed.  There's no one here."

"We need to talk to your cleaning crew," Levon said. The guard thought about it for a moment and then opened the
door to let them inside.

"I think he's up on the third floor," he said.

> /\ <

Joe and Levon came out of the elevator into the dark hallway.  There was just enough light to let them see the doors
to the various offices.  One door near the end of the hallway was open and they walked towards it.  Before they
reached it, a man in blue coveralls came out of the office.  He saw the two detectives almost immediately and turned
to face them.

“Burt Montana?” Levon asked.

“Yeah.  Who wants to know?”

“HPD,” Joe explained.  “We need to ask you a couple questions.”

“What about?”

“The death of Oscar Danforth,” Joe told him.

“Why ask me?”

“Your fingerprints were on the gun,” Levon said.

“That’s impossible.  He said he …..”

“Who said?” Joe asked.

“I don’t have to talk to you.”

“No, you don’t,” Joe agreed.  “But the murder weapon was found next to the body and it had your fingerprints on it.”

“We might as well just arrest you now,” Levon said as he took a step towards the man.

“No, wait,” Montana protested.  “Danforth was already dead when I found him.  He worked late a lot.  I was just going
to ask him if he wanted me to do his office.  I saw the gun and I picked it up without thinking.  His partner, Grady, came
in behind me.  He said he’d take care of it.”

“You recently came into some money, didn’t you?” Levon asked.

“Grady gave it to me.  He said it was a bonus for doin’ a good job.  It was before Danforth was killed.  I didn’t kill him.”

“Yeah, we know,” Levon said.

“Did Grady tell you what he was going to do about the gun?” Joe asked.

“He said he saw a guy run out of the office and he chased him but he got away.  I figured that’s what he would
tell the police.”

“He didn’t,” Joe said

“How about coming to the station and signing a statement?” Levon asked.

“Okay.”

> /\ <

The three men came out of the building and walked towards the Jimmy.  Before they reached the truck, however, a
shot rang out.  Although he couldn’t tell where it came from, Joe was sure he felt it go by his ear.  Levon pushed Burt
Montana to the ground as he pulled his gun from its holster.  Both Joe and Levon carefully surveyed the area.  There
wasn’t even the hint of a breeze, so nothing moved and the only sound was that of Burt Montana’s heavy breathing.
Levon reached down and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Montana replied.

Joe saw the flash of the next shot.  The bullet hit the pavement a few feet from where they stood.

“He’s down there,” Joe said and took off down the street.

“LaFiamma!” Levon cautioned but Joe wasn’t listening.  Levon pulled Montana up and pushed him into the Jimmy.  A
third shot nearly hit Levon as he got into the truck.

After the third shot, a figure moved from the shadows and Joe stopped long enough to aim and fire as the person
started to run.  The assailant flinched, stopping only for a moment, then kept on running but Joe was beginning to
close the distance between them.  As they approached a corner, the Jimmy slid around in front of them.  The man ran
into the side of the Jimmy, bounced off and continued to run.  Levon jumped out of the truck just as Joe ran past and
brought the man to the ground.

Levon came up beside the two men on the ground as Joe turned the man over to see his face.

“Grady!” Joe said.

“You shot me!” the man whined.

“Fancy that,” Levon said.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” Grady insisted.

“You tried to shoot one of us,” Joe said.

“I don’t even have a gun,” Grady sneered.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find it,” Levon said.  “And this time your prints will be on it.”

>> ---------- >

Levon awoke with a start.  The thunder was getting closer.  The thick, hot air pressed against him.  He took a long,
slow breath, held it momentarily, then quickly exhaled.  He felt like he had been running.  He groaned as he got out of
bed slowly.  His entire body ached.  He walked over and looked out the window.  A quick glance at the clock told him
that the morning sun should be annoyingly bright.  As he watched, a sliver of faint pink light flashed in the dark gray
sky and the thunder followed quickly.

> /\ <

Joe slowly opened his eyes and looked around the dark room.  He groaned, knowing that he’d never get back to
sleep.  He sat up in surprise when the light of his alarm flashing caught his eye.  He had slept through the night, but
the sky was still dark.  As he got out of bed, the sky lightened for a moment and then thunder pounded the air.  His
body still ached with each movement, but at least his headache was gone.

> /\ <

Joe and Levon came out of the elevator together.  The hallway was empty.  The entire building seemed to be empty
and the resulting silence had become a ghost-like presence.  They walked through the double doors into the empty
office.  The overhead lights barely kept the darkness outside from spilling in through the windows.  Lightning cracked
as it streaked across the sky and thunder shook all the glass windows almost before the lightning had passed.  They
sat down at their desks uneasily.

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Beaumont walked aimlessly over to Joe and Levon.  She sighed slowly as she looked
at them both.

“So, it’s just us, huh?” she asked quietly.

“So far,” Levon said.  She smiled at them affectionately then looked out the windows at the dark sky.

“Maybe it’ll rain today,” she said softly.  She continued to watch the sky for a few moments then blinked and returned
her attention to her detectives.

“Hey, at least you got Grady,” she said.

“You better believe it,” Annie said as she stopped next to Joanne.

“Hi, Annie,” Levon said cautiously.  “How ya doin’?”

“I’m okay,” she said with her usual smile.  “You’ll be happy to know that the prints on the gun you picked up are Mr.
Grady’s and the bullet you dug out of the cement was fired from that same gun.”

“Annie,” Joe began, “I’m ….,”

“Yeah, me too,” she said with a wink.

“Nice to have you back, Annie,” Levon said.

“I know you guys can’t get along without me.”  She smiled at him and tilted her head.  Levon smiled back at her
fondly.  Somehow, having Annie back made everything seem better.  As she turned to leave, Levon’s phone rang.

“Lundy,” he said into the receiver.  He listened for a moment.

“Esteban ….?” he said then hung up the phone.

“Esteban says he has something he thinks we need to see,” he explained.

“What?” Joe asked.

“That’s all he would say.”  The two detectives looked up at their lieutenant.

“Go,” she said.

> /\ <

They had come to a part of town where the buildings were fewer and smaller.  Time had taken its toll on this area and
eventually the present would erase the traces of the past.  Levon stopped the truck at the end of a narrow side street
in front of two faded brick buildings.  They were obviously empty and each had several broken windows.

Joe and Levon got out of the truck and walked slowly between the two buildings.  The large dirt lot behind the
buildings would have been empty except for the tall cone of trash cans that had been erected in the center.  Esteban
was standing near the base of the structure.

“I think I have solved the mystery of the missing trash cans,” Esteban said as Joe and Levon stared at the tower.

“What the hell?” Levon said as he slowly walked forward.  The faint sound of laughter echoed in reply.  They all looked
around, but could see no one.

“How do you suppose they did it?” Joe asked looking to the top.  Once again the sound of laughter echoed in the air.
The large lot was empty, except for the trash cans, and the buildings had appeared to be unoccupied.

“I guess we should check the buildings,” Levon suggested but before they could move a large bolt of lightning flashed
across the sky.  They all looked up and, as they watched, it seemed to leave the clouds.  It touched the ground near
the trash cans then disappeared, leaving the ground scorched.  The thunder followed immediately with a force strong
enough to rattle the trash cans.

The three men stepped back away from the tower, but it kept its shape.  Then a second bolt of lightning reached out of
the sky and touched the bottom ring of cans.  White fingers of light danced around the rims of the cans and as each
can crackled with electricity a flame appeared inside.

The lightning had left the sky and was now inhabiting the tower.  Once all the cans on the bottom level were burning,
the slivers of blue white light began to move up the wire mesh of the next row.  As with the first row, a flame appeared
inside each can as the electricity moved around the rim.

They watched the electricity travel up each successive level.  When it reached the single can on top it moved around
the rim like a whirlwind.  The top can burst into flame and the bolt jumped off the structure and was pulled back into
the dark clouds.

They realized that the low rumble of thunder that had begun as the second streak of lightning touched the trash cans
had not stopped.  It now became louder and its force pounded against the flames.

Finally the thunder died, leaving only the sound of the fire, and then the rain came.  At first it was only a few large drops
that splattered angrily on the dry ground.  Then once more lightning lit the sky and as the thunder rolled in, the
clouds opened and released the storm.

Levon closed his eyes and tilted his head back to let the warm rain beat against his face.  It was cool compared to the
heat that had filled the previous days.  He looked over at Joe and then at Esteban.  Not one of them moved.  As they
looked at each other, they began to laugh.  Their laughter released the weariness that had plagued them and the rain
washed it away.  They watched as, gradually, the rain began to extinguish the flames.

>> ---------- >

The office hummed quietly with all its normal activity as Levon approached the double doors, hat in hand.  He woke up
this morning to bright sunshine and he was actually anxious to get to work.  As he pushed the door open, Joe came up
behind him looking fashionably neat.

“I was hoping the rain would make it cooler for awhile,” he grumbled.

“It is cooler, LaFiamma,” Levon said and they smiled at each other as they reached their desks.

“I thought for a minute there we were gonna make a Texan out of you,” Levon baited.

“Shoot me first, Lundy,” Joe countered.

Without stopping their activity, the other people in the office watched them enter.  An imperceptible sigh moved
through the room as Joe and Levon bantered.  Things were returning to normal.

“Hi, guys,” Sgt. Carol O’Brien said as she walked past Joe and Levon.  “Oh, Joe, the D.A. called.  He thought you might
like to know that they’re holding the clown for psychiatric evaluation.”

“Thanks,” Joe said.

“What’s the story on the trash cans?” Sgt. Joe Bill McCandless asked.

“There are eight million stories ... ,” Joe said as he looked over at Levon and smirked.

“That was only one of them,” Levon finished.  The two detectives looked at each other and laughed.

Before they could sit down, however, the Lieutenant left her office and stood between them.  She put one hand on
Joe’s shoulder and one hand on Levon’s.  She smiled first at Levon, then at Joe.

“Go home,” she said.  The two detectives looked at her silently.

“I think it’s our turn,” she explained.  “Don’t you?”  She turned around and took one step forward.

“Coming?” she said as she glanced back at them.  They looked at each other then followed the Lieutenant.  Everyone
else in the office watched blankly as the three of them disappeared down the hall.

>> ---------- >   > /\ <   < ---------- <<

NOTES:

"There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight" is the title of a song written by Theodore Metz in about 1886.
Lyrics were added by Joe Hayden.  Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders used the song during the Spanish American war.

The clown, the Reverend and the restaurant worker incidents are based on actual events (only the names have been changed
to protect the innocent.......)

Oh, and speaking of "veiled references" .... did you catch ...

"Just the facts, Ma'am." - Dragnet

“We stand at the Middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition” - Twilight Zone

"Book 'em, Dano." - Hawaii Five-0

"There ya go." - McCloud

"There are 8 million stories (in the Naked City and this has been one of them.)" - Naked City

"This guy is beginning to get on my nerves" and "This is gonna get ugly" probably aren't all that original.
I just can't remember where exactly (or how many times) I heard them.