Close Out (10 page)

“Beyond fricken gross,” said Lucas.

“Don't knock it till you've tried it,” Bean said. “I like mine mixed with cheddar cheese and bacon.”

Everyone told Bean to shut up. It was Kai who noticed that Bean had stopped smiling and was staring toward the shore. He turned and looked. Goldilocks was standing on the beach.

“Oh, crap,” Bean muttered. “Now we're really toast.”

G
oldilocks stood on the beach, glaring at them. He was holding some kind of club in one hand and tapping it against his palm.

“What do we do?” Bean asked Kai.

Kai checked his watch. It was a little after seven
A.M.
“Ask him what he's doing up at this hour. I would have thought this was kind of early for him.”

“I'm serious ,” Bean said.

“Who's that?” Shauna asked.

“No one important,” Kai said.

Shauna frowned as if she knew that wasn't true.

“Why's he got that club?” Booger asked.

“Guess he likes it,” Kai said.

“You know what he's going to do, don't you?” Bean said. “He's going to stay there until we get tired of surfing and go in. He knows we can't stay out here all day.”

“That's okay with me,” Kai said.

“Dude, get serious,” Bean said. “You know he's a badass and you know what he wants. He didn't come here just to watch us surf.”

Derek paddled close to them. “You know that guy?”

It took Kai a second to realize that this was the first time he'd ever heard Derek speak.

“Not really, but we've had some, er, business dealings with him,” Kai answered.

Derek dipped one eyebrow and smiled slightly, as if regarding Kai in a new light. “Business, huh?”

“This is crazy,” Bean said anxiously. “I can't enjoy surfing with him standing there like that.”

“You got a problem with him?” Derek asked.

“No. Yeah. I don't know,” Bean answered. “It should be Kai's problem, but somehow Kai has a way of making all of his problems my problems too. Of course, he isn't worried about it. Meanwhile, I'm totally freaked.”

“Okay, Bean.” Kai started to reach down to take off his leash.

“What are you doing?” Bean asked.

“I'll take care of it,” Kai said, sliding off his board. “Then you won't have to worry.”

“You're going in …
alone
?” Bean asked in total disbelief.

“He may be a badass, but he's not going to kill me on the beach in front of witnesses,” Kai said, and handed Bean the ankle strap connected to his leash.

“Why aren't you taking your board?” Shauna asked.

“Can't risk getting it damaged,” Kai said.

“I'm going with you,” said Derek, sliding off his board and pushing it toward Everett.

“Why you?” Bean asked.

“I never liked that guy,” Derek said.

“You know him?” Bean asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Derek said. “We've done business too.”

Derek and Kai started to swim in.

“Hold up, guys,” said Everett. “I'll go with you.”

He slipped off his board and gave his and Derek's leashes to Booger to hold.

Kai, Derek, and Everett swam toward shore,
got to the shallows, and stepped out of the waves. Goldilocks stood on the dry side of the tide mark tapping the club ominously against his palm. With seawater dripping down his face, Kai stopped a dozen feet away and stood on the wet sand. Derek and Everett stopped with him.

“Reinforcements, huh?” Goldilocks smirked and tapped the club in his hand.

“What do you want?” Kai asked.

“You know what I want.”

“They're not yours,” Kai said.

“I paid for 'em,” Goldilocks said. “They're mine.”

“No way,” Kai said. “They weren't Big Dave's and he had no right to sell them to you.”

Goldilocks twitched. There was no doubt in Kai's mind now that it was Big Dave who'd sold him Curtis's boards.

“Then I want my money back,” Goldilocks said.

“Can't help you there, either,” Kai said. “That's between you and Big Dave.”

Goldilocks narrowed his eyes. “You got this all figured out, don't you?”

“Hey, you play with fire, you get burned,”
Kai said. “Even a four-year-old knows that.”

Goldilocks charged. Kai quickly reached down to the sand and grabbed one of the dozens of jellyfish that had washed up on the beach. He threw it, and it hit Goldilocks in the chest but didn't stop him. Kai doubted Goldilocks even felt it. He also doubted he had time to grab another jellyfish before Goldilocks nailed him with the club. He was turning to dive for the water when he heard a loud
splat!

Kai looked back. Goldilocks had stopped. He was standing still with a totally disgusted expression on his face as he wiped clear jellyfish gook off his jaw.

Splat!
A jellyfish hit him in the forehead.

Kai looked to his right, where Derek was picking up another jellyfish. He wound up and hurled it like a baseball pitcher. Unfortunately Goldilocks ducked out of the way of that one.

Splat!
Goldilocks was so busy ducking Derek's throw that he didn't see the one Everett threw. It hit him in the ear. By now Kai had time to pick up another jellyfish and throw it, too.

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

No matter which way Goldilocks turned, Kai, Everett, or Derek nailed him. In no time the guy was covered with clear jellyfish gook. Goldilocks started to curse up a storm, swearing and threatening that he'd kill them, but Kai and his friends just kept pelting him. Finally the guy put his hands over his head and face and turned away, jogging up the beach until he was out of flying jellyfish range.

He stopped and glared at them. “This ain't over, dipshits.”

“Oh, no?” Derek said. “Then come on back.”

Goldilocks stormed toward the parking lot, still wiping jellyfish off his face.

Kai exchanged high fives with Derek and Everett.

“Way to go, guys,” Kai said. “And seriously, thanks.”

“Anytime,” Derek said. “That was fun.”

“I'm lucky you guys had good aim,” Kai said. “He almost got me.”

“Not a chance.” Derek pointed at a dead horseshoe crab lying on its back in the sun, with flies buzzing around it. “If he'd gotten
any closer, I was going to nail him in the face with that.”

Kai looked down at the dead horseshoe. Dead jellyfish may have been gross, but dead horseshoe crabs were beyond gross. And yet he had no doubt that Derek would have picked it up and smashed Goldilocks with it.

By now Bean, Booger, and Lucas had come in to shore. Bean had Kai's board with him. Shauna was still out at Screamers with Everett's and Derek's boards. “Dudes, that was crazy! ‘Attacker Repelled by Jellyfish Defense!'” Bean said, like he was quoting a newspaper headline.

Everett and Derek squatted down and scrubbed their hands vigorously with wet sand to try to get the jellyfish slime off. Then they both dove into the surf and swam back out to the break, where Shauna was waiting with their boards.

“Anyone else going back out?” Booger asked.

“I hate to say this,” Bean said. “Even though this is the first time in a week that we've got waves, I think I'm gonna split. Something about seeing that guy here has kind of killed it for me for today.”

“I know what you're saying,” Kai said.
“I'm thinking of packing it in and heading over to Teddy's. I'm in the middle of a couple of projects.”

“Okay, guys, catch you later,” Booger said, and picked up his bodyboard.

That reminded Kai of something. “Can you do me a favor, Booger? When you get out there, tell Shauna to try to set up a little farther from the curl, okay? Like out on the shoulder of the wave. I think she's starting too deep under the peak. And tell her not to forget to angle the board.”

“Sure thing, dude.” Booger headed back out.

That left Lucas, Bean, and Kai on the beach. Kai and Bean were about to pick up their boards and go when Lucas said, “Wait a minute.”

Kai straightened up. “Yeah?”

“Did I hear you say something to that guy about Big Dave?” Lucas asked.

Kai and Bean shared a look. Neither answered. But in a way, their silence was an answer.

“So what's going on?” Lucas asked. “I mean, what was that about?”

“He had a bunch of boards that belong to Curtis,” Kai said. “So Bean and I took them back.”

“And what's that got to do with Big Dave?” Lucas asked.

“Maybe you should ask your father,” Kai said.

Lucas frowned, but didn't say anything more. He picked up his board and headed for the water. Bean and Kai walked up the beach with their boards under their arms.

“How come you didn't tell him about Big Dave?” Bean asked.

“Gotta have proof,” Kai said. “I mean, you and I both know that he was almost definitely involved, but why should anyone else believe us?”

“How're you gonna get proof?” Bean asked. “Nobody saw him sell the boards to Goldilocks, and you know for sure neither of them would ever admit it”

“You never know,” Kai said. “Stranger things have happened.”

Bean stared at him. “You are a mysterious dude, Kai. But I'm past the point where I'd ever think of betting against you.”

They reached the parking lot and headed for the hearse. Suddenly Bean stopped and muttered, “Shit.”

A
ll four tires on the hearse had been slashed and were completely flat.

“Crap, crap, crap,” Bean growled as he and Kai walked around the car, inspecting the damage.

Kai felt awful. “It's my fault, dude. If I hadn't gotten you involved in this, it never would have happened.”

Bean didn't argue. He unlocked the car door and got out his cell phone. “Good thing I've got Triple-A. They'll tow it to the nearest station for free.”

“Bet they don't replace the tires for free,” Kai said.

Bean shook his head.

Kai waited with Bean until the flatbed truck came. They couldn't use a tow truck to tow a car with four flat tires. Kai had no idea what car tires cost, only that they couldn't be cheap because nothing on a car was cheap. He and Bean watched as the driver winched the hearse onto the back of the truck.

“Know what's weird?” Bean said. “I'm pissed, but I'm not sorry. I know we did the right thing.”

“I'll make it up to you,” Kai said.

“Thanks, dude, I appreciate the thought. Catch you later.”

Bean got into the truck with the driver. Kai watched them pull out of the parking lot, then he walked over to Teddy's. Behind her workshop he rinsed himself off with a garden hose, then stood in the sunlight and let the rays dry him. He let himself into the workshop. The lights were off. “Teddy?”

No one answered. That was unusual. Teddy was almost always in the shop by that time of the morning.

Kai crossed the yard to Teddy's house, stepped up on the porch, and rang the bell. He waited, listening to the wind chimes clink. No one answered, but Kai had a feeling she was
home. Of course, she didn't have to answer her door if she didn't want to, but it made Kai uncomfortable. Teddy lived alone, and there was always a chance, no matter how slim, that she'd fallen and hurt herself or otherwise needed help for some reason.

He stepped off the porch and walked around the house, peeking in the windows. He found Teddy in her kitchen, sitting at the table with a cup and a cigarette.

“Hey,” he said through the window.

Teddy looked up. While there were no tears visible, her glassy eyes were puffy and red rimmed. That could have been either from lack of sleep or crying. Maybe it didn't matter.

“Go away,” she said.

“I didn't know you smoked,” Kai said.

“I don't.” Her words hung in the air like the smoke drifting up from the embers of the cigarette.

“How come you're not in the shop?”

“I said, go away.”

“Come on, Teddy.”

She took a drag on the cigarette, then exhaled a cloud. “Fucking Buzzy did it. He cut me off.”

“He got a new shaper?”

“A guy over in Fairport.”

“Any good?”

Teddy made a face. “Do you really think Buzzy cares? As long as he makes his money he could give a crap.”

“Maybe you could work for one of the other shops,” Kai said. “Like Fairport Surf.”

Teddy smirked. “Pack Petersen would be lucky to sell one custom board a month.”

“What about opening your own place?” Kai asked.

Teddy's eyebrows dipped for a moment. “Oh, right, you and me as partners against Buzzy Frank. How could I forget?”

“We don't have to be partners.”

“That's for damn sure.”

“Come on, Teddy.” Kai braced himself for some sharp rebuke, so he was surprised when she turned away from him. He heard her sniff and saw her shoulders tremble.

In a cracking voice she said, “For the love of God, Kai, go away!”

Kai went back across the lawn to the workshop, let himself inside, and flicked on the lights. He turned on the radio and got to work buffing a board. Propped in the corner of the room was a nine-footer—shaped, but not yet glassed.
It was a “spec” board. One Teddy worked on in her spare time in the hope of selling.

Kai had an idea. What if he took the round
T-L
logo he'd done for T-licious and turned it into a
TL
logo that stood for Theodora Lombard. He could copy the style of the
TL
Teddy always placed on the stringer of each board. Maybe, if she actually saw what her own brand of custom board would look like, it might inspire her to start her own business. Kai glanced out the window toward the house. It would take a while to draw the logo. There was no way of telling if, or when, Teddy might decide to get to work that day.