D Day    D Day by Elaine Walker

  

 A flash of red caught his eye, but Ray Vecchio barely glanced in that
direction. Muttering to himself, he peered at the computer monitor and
pecked at another key. At least he didn't need whiteout. Even the sound of
a whine, and a throat being cleared close beside him didn't distract him
from his task. 

 "Uh, Ray?" 

 Ray hunted for the 'Z' key. "Yeah, Benny?" 

 "It's six o'clock, Ray." Ben hesitated. "Dief is rather hungry. He's been
looking forward to having pizza for dinner all day. He didn't eat lunch." 

 A soulful white face appeared at Ray's side. Ray barely noticed. "I
can't, Benny, something's come up." 

 "A case?" Ben sounded interested. "Perhaps I can..." 

 "No, it's not a case." Ray finally looked up. "It's D Day." 

 "Haven't you done it yet, Ray?" Elaine paused on her way to Lt Welsh's
office to look over his shoulder. "I had all mine done weeks ago." 

 Ben was looking more and more puzzled. "D Day? But the anniversary isn't
until..." He frowned slightly. 

 "Not that D Day, Benny. Don't you know what the date is today?" Ray
exchanged a resigned glance with Elaine as she moved away. 

 "April 14th, Ray." 

 "And tomorrow is...?" 

 "Well, April 15th, naturally." Ben looked at Ray, who was looking
expectantly back. Light dawned. "Oh! Of course, how silly of me." 

 "Exactly. D Day. And I've got a lot of work to do, so dinner's off." Ray
bent his head over the keyboard again. 

 Ben settled into the chair beside Ray's desk. "Perhaps I can help, Ray." 

 "Hey Vecchio! Are you still working on that stuff?" Ray Kowalski lounged
his way over to stand beside Ben. "You've known about it for months and
you still put it off till the last minute." 

 "I was busy, okay?" Ray scowled defensively at the other cop. "And
then... well, I kinda forgot." 

 "Lame, Vecchio. Very lame. Even the Duck boys got theirs in last week."
Kowalski sneered slightly. It wouldn't have annoyed Ray nearly as much if
he hadn't suspected that Kowalski was enjoying himself. 

 "Yeah, well, just go away and let me get on with it." Ray sighed and
clicked the mouse on the 'save' button. "That's another one finished." He
was still only about halfway. He sighed again. 

 Ben leaned forward. "Ray, if you'd allow me to help..." 

 "No way Benny! I'm not letting you get your hands on my personal stuff."
Ray quickly closed the file as Ben tried to see what was on the screen. 

 Another red suited figure joined the trio. "Ah! Detective Vecchio,
Detective Kowalski, how nice to see you both again." Turnbull beamed at
the two Americans. "Sir." He nodded deferentially at Ben. 

 "Turnbull, why are you here?" Ben's voice sounded distinctly grumpy. 

 His tone was blithely ignored. "Detective Kowalski and I are going to a
curling match this evening." 

 Kowalski took a step back. "We're what?" 

 "I've got the tickets, Ray." Turnbull produced them and handed them to
Ben, rather in the manner of a prosecutor presenting evidence. "You said
it was a good idea." 

 "Yeah, but I didn't say I'd go!" Kowalski slid deftly behind Ray's chair
and peered over his shoulder. He muttered under his breath and pulled out
his glasses. "I gotta help Vecchio. He hasn't got his stuff ready for D
Day yet." 

 "Oh, really? Perhaps I can help." Turnbull smiled encouragingly. "I've
done mine, weeks ago." 

 "I wish every body would quit saying that!" Ray almost snarled the words.


 "But Turnbull, you don't have to submit an American tax return." Ben
froze under the surprised stares of the three men. 

 Ray found his voice. "Benny, what are you talking about? I'm not doing my
taxes." 

 "But... but you said April 15th..." Ben wilted slightly under their
continued scrutiny. Turnbull gave him a sympathetic smile. "Isn't April
15th the last date for..." 

 "Sure. I did my taxes last week." Ray sighed at Ben's blank look. "It the
Archive, Benny. D Day. You do know about that, don't you? The last day
before the old Archive goes off line." 

 "Yes, and it would be such a pity to lose your stories, Detective
Vecchio." Turnbull leaned forward eagerly. "Although there was that one...
I meant to tell you... there was an inaccuracy about the caribou. Quite
glaring really, if you know anything about the feeding habits of caribou."
He laughed a little and then stopped when Ray glared at him. "Well, I
suppose not many Americans do know much about the feeding habits of
caribou." 

 "What a surprise." Ray turned back to his work. 

 Kowalski leaned over his shoulder again. "I can't believe you left it so
late. Even Frannie's finished uploading her stories to the new Archive." 

 "Frannie?" Ray swung around to stare at Kowalski. "Are you telling me my
sister writes stories for the Archive?" 

 "Yeah, you oughta read them. Phew!" Kowalski wiped some imaginary sweat
from his forehead. "All about a certain person. You know." 

 "I can guess." Ray shuddered. He really didn't want to go there. He
looked up at Ben, who hadn't moved. "You did know about it, didn't you
Benny?" Come to think about it, the Mountie hadn't been nagging him about
it, the way he normally would if he knew something needed to be done. 

 "Oh! Oh, yes." Ben looked like a squirrel caught in the headlights. "I'm
afraid I forgot, too." He smiled weakly. "Well, I'd better be going. Come,
Dief." 

 Ray watched in some surprise as Ben headed for the door of the Bull Pen,
a blur of white following close behind. He looked at the other two men,
his mind racing. "Don't tell me Benny's got stories on the Archive." 

 Kowalski grinned. "Sure. Didn't you work it out?" He bent over and
whispered in Ray's ear. 

 "You're kidding! Benny wrote that?" He couldn't believe it, but even
Turnbull was nodding and blushing slightly. His jaw dropped. Well, he
hoped Benny got all his stories loaded tonight, because he'd hate to lose
those stories. Who would have guessed that the Mountie was his favourite
author? He just hoped Benny would find the time to help Dief load that
werewolf story he'd written...