A cop was wading in the pounding ocean surf. He had on his full uniform, even his shoes!

I waded out to join him. I had my clothes on, but was barefooted.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"You're not thinking of doing something silly, are you?"

"It wouldn't be silly."

"Yes, it would!"

He was silent, a bit.

"I didn't mean to be a dishonest cop, really I didn't. But $500 a week only goes so far with a wife and two kids. Then Lou Costa came to me. He offered to give me money to help him in little ways. I know I should've refused, but the money was very tempting."

"I understand, Paul."

"It was simple things. He asked me to warn him if the cops might be closing in on one of his operations. Sometimes, he'd ask me to 'lose' some evidence.

"And then, one day, he asked me for the address of Alice Daniels. I had an idea why he wanted this, but he offered me $10,000 for it, so I gave it to him.

"And then, she was found dead!"

He started crying. I hugged him.

"OK, Paul. Costa is in jail, now. Your evidence can help to put him away for good. Are you willing to do that?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Good."

"But, what about afterwards?"

"You can find a new line of work. Perhaps you can become a private eye, like me."

"Yeah!"

At that very moment, a large wave crashed over us, causing us to lose our balance and fell in the water! We righted ourselves.

He looked at himself. "I look pretty silly, don't I?"

I smiled. "Yeah!"

"Let's go."

"OK."

We walked back to shore. Lt. Kirschenbaum was waiting for us. He helped Paul into the squad car.

"What will happen to him?"

"He'll go into witness protection with his family. Then he'll go into hiding. Good work, Jenny."

"Thanks, Carl."

He smiled. "You're all wet, again!"

"I just can't avoid it!"