North of Nowhere (11 page)

“Was that oar in the package you got?”

“I would have recognized that oar,” he said. “And gotten another good laugh at it. No, it was falling apart in that case, I remember. I don’t imagine you could move it.”

“This is good,” I said. “I’m glad you’re telling me this.”

“You know what’s
really
good,” he said. “Imagining that Vargas paid somebody a ton of money for that oar, thinking it was some sort of authentic Ojibwa relic.”

“I see what you mean,” I said. “But what I’m thinking is, this proves you had nothing to do with this. Because why would you? The stuff’s worthless.”

“Worthless in a material sense,” he said. “It did belong to somebody. But yes, you’re right. It would not have been worth stealing.”

“And the fact that somebody would leave it at your house can only mean one thing…”

He looked at me with those dark, careful eyes, waiting for me to finish my thought.

“You were set up,” I said. “Whoever did this thought it would look incriminating to you, to have this stuff found on your premises.”

He thought about that one, slowly shaking his head. “There was someone here again,” he said. “Last night.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“I was at the casino,” he said. “My neighbor saw somebody, right here on this porch. We all look out for each other, you understand.”

“What was this person doing? Did your neighbor get a good look at him?”

“No, he didn’t. He moved like a man, that’s all he knows. He said he was here one moment, and then gone. He just disappeared.”

“Something strange is going on here,” I said. “Somebody’s playing games with us. With
all
of us.”

“Cat and mouse,” he said. “And you want to know who the cat is, don’t you…”

I looked him in the eye. “That’s the idea.”

“I know why you’re doing this. Jackie is the best friend you have in this world.”

“I’m doing it for all three of you.”

He smiled. “It’s okay, Alex. No matter why, I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”

“Don’t thank me until I get somewhere.”

“I have no doubt you will,” he said. “Jackie talks about you all the time. He says you’re the most stubborn man who ever lived.”

“The pot calling the kettle black, that’s what that is.”

“Have you seen him since this morning?”

“No, not yet. I’ll go there next.”

“Tell him not to worry,” he said. “Tell him he has a good friend watching out for him.”

“I’ll do that,” I said. I thanked him again, and then I left, going back out past the casino, and then west, out of town, into the woods, heading back home to Paradise.

It was cat and mouse, like Gill said. And I had one more mouse to talk to.

I tried Swanson again on the way to Paradise. His secretary must have recognized my voice, because she told me he was still in court and suggested maybe I’d like to leave a message this time instead of hanging up on her. I thought of saying something cute like, “Tell him it’s his worst nightmare,” but thought better of it. “Tell him Alex McKnight called,” I said. “Tell him I really need to speak to him as soon as possible.”

“Do you wish to engage his services in some way?”

“I don’t need his services,” I said. “Just some answers. Good day.”

I hung up the phone, hoping she’d give him the message exactly as I said it. If he’s suddenly unavailable for the next few weeks, that’ll tell me a hell of a lot.

I was about to dial Kenny’s number again, then remembered he probably hadn’t even heard my first message yet. I put the phone down, told myself again to take it easy. Getting too anxious wouldn’t help anybody.

I kept telling myself that as I rolled into Paradise and stopped at Jackie’s place. I was surprised to see that it was open for business again, with the usual six or seven cars in the parking lot. The police invasion of that morning, just a few hours ago—if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.

And Jackie himself, standing behind the bar mixing a drink, didn’t seem as if anything unusual had happened that day—until he looked at the fingerprint ink on his hands and tried to wipe it off with a towel.

“Tell me something, Alex,” he said when he saw me. He was already putting a Canadian on the bar for me. “This gunk they use for the fingerprinting, why is it so hard to get off?”

I sat on a stool at the bar. “Jackie, are you all right?”

“What do they make it out of, Kryptonite?”

“Jackie…”

“If I use rubbing alcohol, will that work?”

I felt like reaching over the bar and grabbing the front of his apron. “Jackie,” I said, slowly, “please tell me how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine,” he said, finally looking me in the eye. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Your son told me you went for a walk on the beach.”

“Did me a world of good, too. I’m gonna have to start doing it every day.”

“Tell me what happened,” I said.

“Can we talk about this later?”

“No, we can’t.”

He threw the towel down on the bar. “What do you want me to tell you? You know what happened. They came with a search warrant, they took me in…”

“What did they find here?”

“Stolen goods,” he said. “They found stolen goods in my bedroom.”

“Are you going to tell me what it was?”

“Do I have to?”

“Actually, I think I can guess,” I said. “I just saw Gill, and he told me about the Indian artifacts somebody left on his doorstep. Turns out they were pretty much worthless, which tells me one thing.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“It had to be a setup. Somebody took the money, Jackie, and they made it look like you and Bennett and Gill were behind it. In your case, I’m guessing they left some kind of thing that people would naturally associate with you. Maybe something Scottish. Am I right?”

He looked at me for a moment. “Yes.”

“What was it?”

“It was a mug,” he said. “An old pewter mug.”

“I think I remember it,” I said. “In Vargas’s display case. What, did it have something engraved on it?”

“It was the Royal Navy flag,” he said. “And the Scapa Flow emblem on the other side. It’s an old naval base in Scotland.”

“And would you have any reason to steal that kind of thing?”

“It was pretty beat up,” he said. “I don’t imagine it would be worth much.”

“Okay, then. That makes sense.”

“If you say so.”

“Why did you take it inside?” I said. “Didn’t you realize it came from Vargas’s house?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking of, Alex. Obviously, I made a big mistake.”

“What were you gonna do with it?”

“I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I might have asked
you
at some point. I never got the chance.”

“What did they ask you at the police station? I hope you didn’t say anything without your lawyer being there.”

“Of course he was there. I’m not stupid. They told me we were looking at felonies, but that things would go a lot easier if I gave up the men who pulled off the heist. That’s the word your friend Chief Maven used, the ‘heist.’ He’s quite a character, isn’t he…. And he has such a fond regard for you.”

“He should be looking for whoever really did this,” I said. “But I don’t think he’s going to. Did they set a trial date yet?”

“No. My lawyer thinks they’ll hold it over our heads for a few days, try to get more information out of us.”

“A few days…”

“I won’t crack,” he said. “I’ll never rat out my accomplices.”

“This isn’t a joke, Jackie. You could go to jail over this. I want to talk to a few people, starting with Mr. Swanson.”

“I’m sorry I got you involved in this, Alex. Now I want you to just let it go. I don’t want you to go knocking people’s heads around.”

“Too late,” I said. “Heads have already been knocked.”

“Damn it, will you leave this alone, Alex? For once in your life, will you please just stay out of it?”

I took a hit off the bottle and put it back down. “When you came to my cabin the other night,” I said, “and made me come out to play cards with you—why did you do that?”

“Because I’m dumb as a turnip.”

“You did it to help me, Jackie. I was in a funk and you took it upon yourself to help me get out of it, whether I wanted you to or not. Now I’m returning the favor. I’m gonna help you, like it or not. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Later that afternoon, I called Swanson’s office again. I was sitting at the bar, using Jackie’s phone, so he got to hear me having it out with Swanson’s secretary. Swanson wasn’t in court anymore, she told me, but he was now having a late dinner meeting. Yes, she gave him my message. No, she didn’t know when he might call me back. He was a very busy man. The tone in her voice told me she knew I was obviously not too busy myself, if I had the time to be bothering her every hour. When I asked if he might possibly be available at his home number, she gave me the iciest “no” I had ever heard. And I’ve gotten more than my share of those before. That was the end of the conversation.

When I hung up, Jackie stood there looking at the phone. “You’re really going after Swanson,” he said. “Based on what?”

“If he had nothing to do with it, he’s got nothing to worry about,” I said. “I just want to ask him some questions.”

“What, you think he’ll tell you if
did
have something to do with it?”

“You know what the hardest part of police work is?”

“Getting shot?”

“Aside from that,” I said. “I mean as a general rule.”

“Tell me.”

“I’ll tell you what it isn’t first,” I said. “The hardest part isn’t figuring out who did the crime. In fact, that’s usually the easiest part. The hardest part is making the case.”

“Proving it, you mean.”

“Yes. I knew a few detectives in my precinct, guys who had to build cases every day, and Lord knows I saw my share of guilty men. And women. Hell, mostly men, let’s be honest. If Franklin and I were out in the car, we’d usually be the first on the scene. Somebody dead on the floor, or in bad shape at least. We’d get backup in there, and an ambulance, and eventually a couple of detectives would show up. We’d hand it off to them at that point. The guys I knew, they’d come right up and ask me. First question was what happened. Second question was who did it. Because most of the time, I’d know. Inside of five minutes, it would be obvious. I’d know, Franklin would know, the detective would know as soon as he looked at the guy. All you got to do is look him in the eye and say, ‘Did you have anything to do with this?’ And they say, ‘No way, officer.’ It might as well be written on their forehead.”

“So you’re telling me, all you’re gonna have to do is ask Swanson if he did this, and no matter what he says, you’ll know the truth, just like that.”

“I don’t know that for sure,” I said. “But I’ve gotta give it a try, see what my gut says when I hear it from him.”

“What if your gut is wrong? Hasn’t that ever happened?”

“I suppose it has, once or twice.”

“Once or twice? You want me to name a few times your gut’s been wrong, just the ones I’ve seen myself? Hell, I could make a good living betting against your gut, Alex. I could buy a new car and retire to Florida.”

“You’re a funny man,” I said. “I’m so glad you made bail today.”

“Alex, I’m begging you. Take your gut and go home, will ya? Go back to being a hermit for a while. You’re gonna get us all in even bigger trouble than we are already.”

“All right, take it easy, Jackie. I know you’ve had a tough day…”

“I need some Rolaids,” he said, patting his apron pockets. “Where the hell did I put my Rolaids?”

Jackie’s stomach didn’t get any better that night. I didn’t get any less pissed off at him for being a stubborn, ungrateful jackass. Right after dinner, he did the unthinkable, going upstairs and leaving his son in charge of the place. I couldn’t remember him ever doing that, not when it was still light outside.

I stuck around for a while and helped Jonathan clean up the place. “Hey, I was going to ask you,” I said, “have you noticed anything unusual around here? Anybody snooping around?”

“Like who?”

“I don’t know. Just anybody out of the ordinary.”

“No, can’t say that I have. Although…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“What? What is it?”

“It was just today, when we got back here,” he said. “I went in the back door and it was like, I don’t know, something didn’t seem right.”

“You think somebody was in the house?”

“Well, remember, we had the cops all over the place this morning, so I figured I was still just kinda weirded out, you know what I mean? But when we got back, I’m walking up the steps, and I’m thinking, what is that smell? It was like cigar smoke or something.”

“Cigar smoke.”

“Yeah, but it was sweeter. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“The door was locked,” he said. “How could somebody get in here?”

“I don’t know, Jonathan. I just don’t know.”

“Like we don’t have enough going on around here,” he said.

“I hear ya.”

“I know one thing,” he said. “I’m taking my deer rifle to bed with me tonight.”

“Do me a favor,” I said. “Keep it on the floor. Don’t actually put it in your bed, okay?”

He laughed at that one. I helped him finish up, said good night, and then headed out.

As I was driving back up to my cabins, the cell phone rang. I hoped it was Swanson, calling to see what the hell I was harassing him about, but instead it was Kenny.

“I just came home and heard your message,” he said. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Thanks for calling me back,” I said. “I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the other night.”

“I don’t understand. We were both there. What would I know that you don’t already?”

“You know Vargas a lot better than I do,” I said. “I was hoping you might have some better insight.”

“I still don’t understand, Alex.”

“Are you aware that Jackie, Bennett, and Gill were all arrested today?”

There was a long silence on the line. “I knew
something
was up,” he finally said. “Win was in a pretty strange mood today.”

“He was at work today? You saw him?”

“Just for a few minutes. To tell you the truth, I’ve been avoiding him. Ever since that night, he’s been driving everybody crazy.”

I wanted to keep him talking, but I knew it would be better if I could ask him my questions in person. “Is there any chance of me coming down there?” I said. “I’d really appreciate it.”

“You really want to come all the way down here?”

“You’re in Bay Harbor, right? It’ll give me a chance to see it for myself.”

“I thought you hated this place.”

“I’ve never been inside,” I said. “I should give it a chance, right?”

“I don’t think you’re being straight with me, Alex…”

“Kenny, I’ve got three friends who got put in a jail cell today, and I’m just trying to help them. A few minutes of your time is all I ask.”

“All right, all right,” he said. “I’ll be here tomorrow morning. Just go to the front gate. I’ll give them your name.”

“You don’t have to work tomorrow?”

“I told you, he’s driving everybody crazy. It’s about time for a day off.”

“Nine o’clock okay?”

“Make it ten,” he said. “I’m going back out now. It might be a late night.”

I thanked him and hung up. It’s not the order I wanted to do this in, I thought. I’d rather get to Swanson first, work from the top down. But there’d still be plenty of time tomorrow to take another shot at him.

I stopped the truck in front of my cabin, sat there in the darkness for a while, listening to the engine cool down. The light from a three-quarter moon was shining through a break in the clouds, outlining the cabin against the woods behind it, this cabin built of pine logs thirty years ago by a retired auto worker and his baseball-player son. On this night it looked as lonely and forgotten as that abandoned railroad car over in Brimley.

A light was on inside. That wasn’t right. I did not remember leaving a light on.

I got out of the truck, went to the front door. It was unlocked. I pushed it open. The sweet smell of smoke hung in the air.

I stepped inside. I waited to hear something, anything, the sound of a foot falling, a word spoken, even a breath. There was nothing. Nobody was there. At least not at that moment.

There, in the center of the room, on my table…There were papers all over it. I took a step closer. I saw all of my bank statements, the stubs from my disability pension payments, my life insurance, even the deed to my land. It was all there, all of my financial records, my whole life, laid out on the table. Next to the papers was a saucer from my kitchen, with five cold cigar butts on it. They were those sickly sweet little cigars, the kind my father would take hunting to keep the bugs away. Somebody had been sitting right here in this chair, looking through these papers, smoking these cigars and using this saucer as an ashtray.