Free Shades of Blue by Bill Moody

digging for me?”
    “Evan, I told you I’m swamped but when you get back and I can see that photo and all, I’ll see what I can do.”
    “That would be good.”
    “When are you coming back?”
    “Hopefully by the weekend. I’m going to go along on a boat to scatter Cal’s ashes. Have to call them tomorrow to set it up.”
    “I’m sorry, Evan, about all of it. That’s going to be hard. I wish I could be there with you.”
    “Dana is going to go. I figured since she was the last one to see Cal and all,” then regret it immediately.
    “Of course,” Andie says, a decided chill in her voice. Dana comes back and sits down and stares at the traffic.
    “Come on, Andie, lighten up.”
    “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated at not being there and I’ve been so tied up here.”
    “I know.” There’s a long pause where neither of us say anything. “Well, I’ll let you go.”
    “Yeah, I’ve got an early briefing. Call me tomorrow.”
    “I will.”
    “Night.”
    “Night.”
    I punch off the phone, and light another cigarette. Dana looks at me. “Everything okay?”
    I shrug. “Andie has a little jealous streak about her.”
    Dana nods. “I understand that. It’s good. It means she cares.”
    ***
    Wednesday morning I call the cremation society around nine and talk to the same woman. There’s a boat on Friday morning if I’d like to make a reservation, she tells me.
    “There will be two, another friend of Mr. Hughes.”
    “Fine, I think you’ll be glad you decided on this, Mr. Horne.”
    “I’m not so sure I am,” I say.
    “Trust me,” Mrs. Johnson says. “Friday morning at ten. The lower deck of Santa Monica Pier. One of our representatives will be there.”
    I hang up the phone and wander around the house for a bit. Dana is already gone and has left a note for me that she has classes but will be back later this afternoon if I need her for anything. She’s even drawn a little happy face on the bottom of the page.
    I have to admit her presence has made things much easier and she’s a bright attractive girl and…
    I don’t finish the thought when my cell rings.
    “So, am I picking you up sometime today?” Andie asks.
    I tell her again about the excursion to scatter Cal’s ashes. “It’s Friday. I just have to have some kind of closure on this, Andie, and this seems the only way.”
    I’d sat up late thinking about all this. Although it was a done deal and what Cal wanted, there would be no grave to visit in the coming years, no visible signs at all. But maybe it was best to remember Cal as I’d last seen him.
    Andie sounds disappointed. “You’re right.”
    “I have a couple of other things to run down while I’m here but I’ll try to make it back Friday night or Saturday, okay?”
    “Well I can’t promise I’ll be around. This case I’m on may get heavy by the weekend.”
    We’re both silent for a long moment. “Let’s just play it by ear then.”
    “Not much choice,” she says. “Let me know what you decide.”
    “Andie.”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m going to pursue this thing with Cal and try to find the woman, the child in the photo, with or without your help.”
    “I know.”
    She’s quiet again then, “Evan, you may not like what you find.”
    I know what she means. I’ve heard it before.
    ***
    I call the Musicians’ Retirement Home again and try to catch Mal Leonard. I get the same woman who tells me he’s expected back around noon.
    “Are there any restrictions on visitors?”
    She laughs. “No, nothing like that. I’m sure he’ll be glad to swap stories with you.”
    “Good, just tell him I’m the friend of Calvin Hughes.”
    “Will do,” she says and hangs up.
    With time to kill I sit down at Cal’s piano and go through some exercises and start thinking about tunes for the Roy Haynes date. That still hasn’t quite registered yet. A recording date with Roy Haynes. Big label, promotion, and very likely I’ll be in some very fast company with top flight