Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 260

After squaring things away with the police department we returned to Sharkey's house. I stayed another week to see his daughter get hitched and then got ready to head back to L.A.

Sharkey took me into his study. He poured two glasses of bourbon and handed one to me. We stood at the big windows that looked out over the Pacific Ocean.

"Kid," Sharkey said, "you don't know what this means to me. There aren't many people in this life I could count on, but I knew you were one of them. Most definitely."

"Glad to be of help, Sharkey."