I gave him a look that should have taken ten years off his life. But before another word could be said he was taking out two more Canadian beers and putting them on the bar.
“What do we have here?” Cap said.
“Alex only drinks beer that’s been bottled in Canada,” Jackie said. “See if you guys can tell the difference.”
I kept staring at Jackie. I couldn’t imagine why he was acting like a good host all of a sudden. He certainly didn’t use it on most people. Hell, if it was wintertime and you stopped in for one, he’d probably be yelling at you about the snow on your boots before you closed the door behind you.
It was the day, I thought. The strange, strange day, and the fact that he hadn’t seen a real paying customer all week. It was going to his head.
“This is outstanding,” Bruce said. He was holding the bottle in his huge hand, looking down at it with admiration. “Absolutely outstanding.”
“I agree,” Cap said. There was something about the way he talked. He was too self-aware, too smooth for his own good. I thought I had him figured pretty well, the type of guy I’d run into my whole life, in high school, in baseball, then later on both sides of the badge. Three inches too short, always trying too hard to make up for it. All car and haircut, and not much else.
Yeah, I thought I had him pegged.
“Did Alex tell you how we met last night?” Cap said to Jackie.
“No, he didn’t.”
“Well…we were out in a boat. It was pretty dark. And foggy.”
“Last night?” Jackie said. “You were out in a boat? You’re kidding me.”
“Pretty dumb, I know. We paid for it, believe me. Yes, sir. We were at the casino down in Bay Mills, and we ended up going out across the bay.”
“Don’t tell me,” Jackie said. “Those old bridge pilings…”
“Is that what those things are? We never even saw them. Next thing I know, we were stopped dead and the goddamned boat was sinking.”
“What kind of boat was it?”
“Ah, some old thing,” Cap said. “A wooden boat.”
“A Chris-Craft,” I said. “It looked like somebody had put a lot of work into it.”
“Wait a minute,” Jackie said. “You guys drove an antique Chris-Craft into those pilings?”
“Whose boat is it, anyway?” I said.
Cap looked at me. “It’s Harry’s boat.”
“It’s his dad’s boat,” Bruce said.
“It was his boat,” Cap said.
“Harry was the driver.”
“Yes.”
“How many drinks did he have before you guys went out?”
Cap hesitated again. “Two drinks. Maybe three. Harry can hold his liquor. Believe me, he wasn’t drunk.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s legal, don’t worry. He looks younger than he is.”
“And where is he now? Is he still in the hospital?”
“Yes. In Sault Ste. Marie. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“Do you know that for a fact?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Alex.”
“Did you talk to the doctor?”
“I talked to Harry. He’ll be fine.”
“He looked pretty banged up last night. I’m surprised he’s even awake today.”
“Alex, as I told you, we just came out here to show our appreciation.”
“That didn’t seem to be your attitude last night,” I said. “As I recall, you accused us of hitting you. Like we’d actually be out there on the bay, waiting for someone to come by so we could ram them.”
Cap didn’t say anything. He kept looking at me, straight in the eye. Jackie stood on the other end of the bar, watching us. He must have been wondering what the hell was going on.
“I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here,” Cap finally said. “Everything happened so fast last night. I think we were all a little in shock or something.”
“Yeah. Or something.”
He started tapping his fingertips on the beer bottle. “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. There was a little smile on his face.
“Before you guys got in the boat,” I said, “did you happen to run into a little trouble at the casino?”
“What do you mean?”
“At the Bay Mills Casino. Did you happen to have a little altercation with someone who works there?”
“There may have been a little misunderstanding. Some Indian trying to act like a tough guy.”
“The pit boss, you mean.”
“Yeah, whatever. Without the casino he’d probably be selling little totem poles to tourists.”
“I kinda doubt that. Anyway, he’s a friend of mine. You guys gave him some nice bruises.”
“This is a small town,” Cap said. “Didn’t I tell you, Brucie?”
I didn’t see the big man’s reaction. I was still looking at Cap.
“Why are you really here?” I said.
“I told you.”
“Okay, then. You bought me a drink.”
“Maybe there is one more thing.”
“Surprise.”
I saw it in his eyes just then. The little flash of anger. It came quick, like it wasn’t that far away to begin with. Not far away at all.
“There was a box in the boat,” he said. “About this big.” He held up his hands about four feet apart.
“What about it?”
“It was yellow and black. Airtight. You know, designed to float.”
“What was in it?”
“Some valuables. Wallets, cash, that kind of thing. It’s just a box to keep things safe. Like a lockbox.”
“I never heard of a lockbox that floats.”
“It was in a boat,” he said. He seemed to be measuring his voice carefully now. “Everything in a boat should float, don’t you think?”
“You may have a point. But why are you telling me all this?”
“I was just wondering if you happened to see it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“It was in the front of the boat,” he said. “At one point, I remember seeing it. I was going to grab it, but that was when the other guy jumped in to turn off the motor. And then after that I think we were all pretty occupied with Harry. You know, making sure he was still alive and everything. I never saw the box after that.”
“I never saw it at all. It probably just floated away.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“Or else it sank. It might have gotten damaged and filled up with water.”
“You’re answering pretty quick. Are you sure you don’t want to think about it?”
I counted to three in my head. “I didn’t see it. I didn’t touch it. I don’t know anything about it. I can’t help you.”
He finally blinked. He looked down at his bottle. I could see the veins in his forearms standing out as he worked his hands. If something was going to happen here, it was me and Jackie against the two of them. And the biggest man in the room was right behind me.
“Do you…,” he started to say, slowly, “have any idea…”
“Cap,” Bruce said.
“Shut up, Brucie. I’m talking to the man. I think he needs to understand some things.”
“Or not,” I said. “I think I’ll just stay in the dark, if you don’t mind. I’d like you both to leave now.”
“He needs to understand, Brucie. The man needs some enlightenment.”
There was an old baseball bat under the counter. Jackie had had it there for years, and never had to use it. Not once. At that moment, I couldn’t help wondering if it was still there.
“He really, really needs to understand.” He was working his hands harder and harder. Opening them and closing them. The only question now was how fast I could hit him with my bottle, and then what the big guy would do to the back of my head.
That’s when the door opened and Vinnie walked in.
Chapter Four
Five hundred miles. Paradise, Michigan, to Toronto, Ontario. Across the International Bridge, then up around the North Channel, right through Blind River in fact, past the house where Natalie grew up. Turning south finally around Sudbury, down the eastern edge of Lake Huron, through Big Chute, through Barrie. Finally coming to the city itself, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.
Or if you’re a bird, you fly right over all that water. Like many other things in this life, how much quicker it is if you don’t have to go around something so unimaginably big.