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organization that would promote someone like Franklin Dollar. Smiling, he stood up, walked to his bedroom, put on his running clothes, and left the condo.
     
    ***
     
    Stephanie walked through Kruger's door at exactly 12:30 p.m. She had changed into jeans and sweatshirt and looked like she was ready for a vacation. She smiled and said, “Hi, how’d the phone call go?”
    Kruger was sitting on his sofa reading. He looked up, removed his reading glasses, and said, “Not worth a damn. They promoted someone to the Kansas City SAC position I refuse to work for.”
    Snuggling up next to him on the sofa, Kruger put his arm around her and kissed her. She said, “So, now what do we do?”
    “I changed my mind, I’m going to retire. I’ll let them know officially next week. I’ll work through June, then I’m done.”
    She nodded. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
    “Yes.” He paused for a few seconds. “I’m tired of putting up with people like Dollar. Seltzer said he would work something out so I could stay in his department and not travel. But I think it was BS, just trying to pacify me. It's time for a change.”
    Placing her arm around his chest, she held him tighter. “As long as you're comfortable with the decision.”
    “I am.” Kruger took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll listen to what Seltzer comes up with, and if it’s a good proposal, I'll think about it.  But I'm ready to move on.” He stood up and looked at her. Smiling, he reached for her hand as she stood up. “What's on our agenda this week?”
    With an impish grin, Stephanie said, “Let's go get our marriage license this afternoon.”
    “Good plan.”

Chapter 7
     
    Kansas City, MO
    Friday
     
    “I’ll bet you a dollar, Brian and his girlfriend show up around dinnertime,” Kruger said while putting fresh sheets on the bed in the guest bedroom.
    Stephanie was cleaning the small bathroom attached to the bedroom and replacing dusty towels with fresh ones. “Of course they’ll show up at dinner time. Where do you want to take them?”
    “Well, I thought about O’Dowd’s, but we have such a busy day tomorrow we probably won’t get much of a chance to sit down and talk. Besides, on Friday night, the place can be loud. Not real conducive to getting to know your son’s girlfriend. One I didn’t know existed.”
    Stephanie peeked around the door of the bathroom and looked at Kruger. “Are you still mad about not knowing?”
    “Not really. He’s too much like me to be mad. More jealous than anything.”
    “Why would you be jealous?”
    “He told you, not me.” Kruger smiled at her and finished fluffing the pillows. “What do you say we fix dinner here? We can have a quiet evening and get to know this young lady?”
    “That would be perfect. I may have known about her, but I’ve never met her either. Now, the age old question of having dinner at home. What are we going to fix?”
     
    ***
     
    They arrived just after 6 p.m. Friday, having left Columbia after Brian’s last class of the day. Brian was the spitting image of his father, just over six feet tall, slender and muscled like a swimmer. He wore his dark brown hair long and pulled back into a short pony tail. His face was slender, like his father’s. Where Kruger had crystal blue eyes, Brian’s were hazel and changed shades with the prevailing light. The father and son looked more like twins, except for the age difference. Kruger’s hair was short, which allowed a small amount of gray to show at his temples. He also had the beginning of worry lines on his forehead and around his eyes.
    Brian embraced his father and Stephanie, then introduced his companion. “This is Michele Brickman,” he said with a proud smile. “We’ve known each other since our sophomore year.” He was holding her hand as he introduced her, but released it when he continued, “Michele, this is my dad, Sean, and his fiancée, Stephanie Harris.”
    Michele smiled, shook both their