Run into Trouble

help her, and I’m not going to question the purity of your motives, even though it’s possible she might offer to thank you in a particularly pleasant way, but she can only bring you trouble. Besides, we’re on a mission tonight.”
    The mission being to listen to Casey’s speech. They went to Drake’s room to listen to it together, so they could compare notes. Drake ran a cold bath for himself and even obtained a container of ice cubes from the motel dispenser and poured them into the tub. He had learned to almost tolerate the freezing water. He left the door to the bathroom open, which enabled him to hear the speech. Melody didn’t object, but she also didn’t volunteer to wash his back.
    First they listened to news reports about the submarine. These were delivered with an urgency approaching hysteria. It was probably a good thing that no mention was made of the Russian writing found in it.
    Somehow, Casey had wangled time on a national network, even though he was running for senator from California. When it was time for him to speak, a network anchor introduced him as the CEO of the company that was instrumental in the nation’s military preparedness.
    It was obvious from the start that Casey wasn’t going to waste his time on California issues now that he had a national pulpit. He immediately started talking about the submarine. He said that the participants in Running California had gone past the spot where the boat was found on the same day, something that had not been mentioned in the news reports. He expanded on that.
    “What if that submarine had still been manned? With its armament, it could easily have destroyed some of the cream of California citizenry, just as it killed one of our runners at Malibu, as well as destroying several houses. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s more—information that has been suppressed by the administration, because it doesn’t want to worry you unduly, but, ladies and gentlemen, this is information you need to know because it’s a threat to national security.”
    Casey then told about the Russian writing in the sub. Melody wondered how he knew about that. Of course. His military connection. He was getting feedback on everything the military did. She had originally gripped the arms of her chair to keep herself from running into the bathroom and jumping into the tub with Drake, ice water and all. Now she gripped them harder.
    She called to Drake. “Did you hear that?”
    “Loud and clear. I think we know who our warmonger is.”
    Casey was just getting warmed up. He came close to saying that a president who didn’t defend the country ought to be impeached. Then he talked about creating a buffer zone along the coast—land that would be owned by the government for security, with anti-missile batteries, but would also be a continuous beach during peacetime. Everyone would have complete access to the water everywhere. He was vague about the details.
    Drake remembered that Casey had talked about this before. He must be serious about it since he was bringing it up again. Drake ran the water out of the tub and vigorously toweled himself off, trying to bring some circulation back into his frozen limbs. In spite of the discomfort, he had to admit that these baths were helping to keep him going. He threw on some clothes and came back into the main room just as Casey finished speaking.
    Melody turned off the television set. “Apparently, he doesn’t know that you were the one who spotted the sub. I’m sure he would have mentioned it if he did. That means what you tell Blade isn’t getting through to him.”
    “Blade may be the only person in government who’s not in his pocket. But I’m glad our spymaster isn’t in cahoots with the person we’re supposed to be spying on.”
    “His bringing up the Russian business when the president tried to suppress it is going to cause an uproar, or my name isn’t Miss Marple. That’s why I turned off the telly. Flying accusations give me a headache.”
    “How about that proposed land grab—taking the beach houses of the rich and famous, as well as the rich and not so famous? He’s definitely trying to appeal to the masses—telling them they’ll have full beach access. They really do now. They just have to work at it in some places.”
    “Your masses had better start connecting the dots and realize that if the government can take property from people along the coast, they can take property from people